The Velvet Apartments
by DustTilDawn
Summary: (AU of all 5 games) ON HIATUS DUE TO HEALTH ISSUES. PLEASE DO NOT READ PAST CHAPTER 13.
1. Meeting the Team (1)

**A/N: Before you read this story, I want to say that it's entirely experimental, meaning it might be deleted at any time. How Akira progresses, the length of this story, and the ending will be entirely dependent on the comments which will dictate Akira's choices.**

* * *

There's an apartment building at the top of a very long hill that's supposed to be one of the best in these parts. It's old, but no one is sure when it was made, only that it has been there for hundreds and hundreds of years. In the beginning it's said that demons, gods and goddess lived in these apartments, intermingling with humans and giving birth to demigods and ayakashi alike. A haven for all beings, both mystical and normal, but eventually they could no longer deal with the stupidity of man and left for their homelands, whether it be the heavens, hell, or somewhere in between. Now it's only an upscale apartment building for the people who are fortunate enough to have their application accepted. Or so they say.

"Welcome to the Velvet Apartments. And who might you be?" The man standing before me is small, shorter than any full grown man has the right to be. His nose is hooked, and sharp, as if it could stab someone to death if they aren't careful. The sound of his voice is smooth despite being very high-pitched. It's both calming and eerie.

"Akira Kurusu? I'm the new resident?" I take out my letter of recommendation that has been stamped on the top right corner and explains my situation. My signature at the bottom is still fresh. The man takes my application into his thin hands. The fingers are long and out of proportion. I try my best not to look at him.

We're standing on concrete but there's a large lawn to one side. The grass is neatly trimmed, and nothing seems out of place. Even a cluster of blue butterflies look like they belong there. A small open lot for cars is nearly full, and the overhang next to it protects a variety of bicycles, motorcycles, and mopeds. The scene is like something out of an old oil-painting, with its soft tones and complimentary colors. Behind me is a steep path that leads down the hill and into town where the maze of suburban streets are laid out, displaying a variety or stores, homes, and public buildings.

His strange voice snaps me out of my thoughts and I only catch the tail-end of his sentence. "... I forgot you would be arriving today. My name is Igor, and I'm your landlord. Let me call one of the children to help you. They'll explain some of the rules along the way." In his hands is a small bell, like the ones invalids use to call their nurses. He gives it a few rings and a young girl runs up to us, seemingly out of nowhere. She is very pretty, with long blond hair and yellow eyes. She looks vaguely familiar, but that is impossible. I'm a hundred miles from home, and have never set foot inside this town before today.

"Hello, I'm Lavenza and I'll be watching over you." The girl offers me her hand and guides me through a large set of double doors into the building. Inside is a small, well-lit foyer, lined with mailboxes, all numbered incorrectly. Directly on my left is number 504 which is next to 302 and beneath that is 114. "You'll be in room 500 so your mailbox is right here." She stands on her tiptoes to reach a box on the top row, between 326 and 201 and pulls out a set of keys. "The white one is for your room, blue one for the main doors, and the silver one is for the mailbox. If you lose these, we'll need to make you a copy. The fee is 500¥." She pulls out her own set of keys which seem large for such a small child. A blue butterfly key chain hangs off the end, spinning with her infrequent movement. "We pick up all the big packages but smaller mail goes in the boxes. The main doors are automatically locked after midnight so if you choose to come home after that time, you'll need to open the door yourself."

I nod and she leads me past another set of double doors into a short hallway with a shelf for shoes on one side, and a shelf of umbrellas on the other. Both are numbered in the same haphazard, unorganized way as the mailboxes. Directly in front of me is a narrow stairwell, and I can see a landing to the right at the top of the first set of stairs before an awkward turn. "The first two floors belong to some infrequent guests. They come by to visit occasionally, and we preserve the room in their last condition for their stay." The stairwell looks green at first, but then it flashes to a somber red and it stays that way. Red, mahogany wood.

It's not until we reach the third floor that we see the first signs of life. A group of men are sitting around a table playing cards. Two fashionable women sitting on a couch, both redheads, are having a whispered conversation that I can't catch. As we approach the top step, the men turn to look at us.

"Yoo! Fresh meat! Lavenza, who's the new guy?" The man who speaks is sitting on the left and a bit older than the rest. He's got the beginnings of a beard despite missing some hair at the top of his head. He calls out to my guide and she smiles in response.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Junpei. This man is Akira Kurusu and he will be the new occupant of room 500."

"500? That's right next to mine." I turn to look at another person at the table, and he stands up to greet me. "I'm Ryuji Sakomoto. Room 507. We're going to be seeing a lot of each other from now on." The boy looks to be about the same age as me, with a delinquent face. His shirt is dirty and there's a chain hanging from his brown cargo shorts.

I shake his hand and in the next moment he is missing the top half of his face. All the flesh and muscle have been peeled back to reveal just the top half of his skull. The eye sockets are empty voids that seem to stare into me. Teeth that have been filed to stubs snap up and down on words that I don't hear.

"Hey, are you alright, man?" I blink, and his face has returned to normal: Spiky blond hair and pale-ish fleshy skin.

"Fine. Just saw something weird." I smile and nod, walking away from him. Lavenza is watching me as we ascend the steps, her eyes full of concern. I give her a reassuring pat on the head. As we climb to the next floor, Lavenza opens her mouth to recite the three rules of the apartment but another girl gets to it first.

"One: Pay your rent on time. Two: No sexual relations in the Velvet Apartments. Three: No fighting in the Velvet Apartments." The girl is leaning over a railing that separates the common room from the stairs. I can tell that she's short, but well proportioned. Her demeanor tells me she's a little older than me, but she has pigtails and a young face. I give up immediately on guessing her age. "Oh Lavenza, you're too young to be talking like Margaret. Loosen up a little, and what's your name, cutie?"

"Akira. Kurusu."

"Rise Kujikawa." She walks around the railing to give me a quick peck on the cheek. "You're almost as handsome as Souji. If you ever get bored, give me a call? I'm in 406." There's a playful smile on her lips as she winks. I'm almost tempted to return the smile before a _huge_ man throws an arm over her shoulder protectively. Every bit of him looks like a Yakuza.

"What are you looking at, chump?! I'm Kanji Tatsumi and don't you even think about making the moves on Rise or I'll beat the-" Lavenza kicks him in the shin, bringing the huge man to his knees.

"Kanji…you know the rules." She puts her fists on her hips and glares him down, every inch of her looking like a little schoolteacher.

The huge man whimpers, all of his bravado gone in the face of the fierce reprimand. "I know! I know. I'm sorry, Lavenza. Won't happen again. Don't tell Margaret. Please!"

She smiles and nods, grabbing my hand again to pull me up to the next floor.

"Bye, bye handsome. I'll see you at dinner." Rise blows me a kiss as I leave. I watch as she turns to the poor man still kneeling on the floor to help him up. In that bare moment her expression is motherly and kind, as if she's done this for years. All trace of the flirtatious attitude, gone.

"Mama is in charge of the fourth floor." Lavenza explains, "I'm in charge of the 5th. Auntie Elizabeth and Uncle Theodore are in charge of the 3rd because the two of them are irresponsible." Lavenza continues to describe some basic know-how of the dorm as we finally reach the 5th floor. The common area here is similar to the others, but it's little smaller. There's a mini kitchenette and a small sitting area where people can talk or relax.

The only people in sight are two girls: one with poofy hair like a dog and the other with short hair a bit past her shoulders. They turn to look at me as I pass. "Hello Lavenza," The two of them smile and wave, but only the girl with the short hair stands up to greet me. "And who are you?"

"Akira, Kurusu. I'm in room 500." I shake her hand, and it's surprisingly callous, like that of a construction worker or a musician.

"Makoto Nijima. 502 and this is Haru Okumura, 503." Her hand displays the girl on the floor and Haru dips her head slightly in a small bow. I wave awkwardly in return. "Will you be starting at the high school next month?" I nod. "That's unfortunate. Haru and I just graduated, but if you need any help, feel free to let us know." The girls return to whatever it is they're working on, and I follow Lavenza to a long hallway behind the common room.

Each door is unique. One is in an old Japanese style, while another looks like it's made completely of stone. A third door looks like the top of a coffin, complete with a little window that would open up to a face in a casket. Finally, between what looks like a door made of space technology and one painted entirely black is my room. The door is obviously made of iron with a glass window too high for someone as small as Lavenza to look through. I pull out my new set of keys and open it to find a surprisingly normal room with a simple bed, a wooden desk, and dozens of boxes littering the floor. "Your parents sent everything this morning. If you need anything, you can use this phone to call me. My number is 511," She points to an old fashioned wall phone, before reaching up on her tip toes to pat me on the head. I need to bow a little for her to reach. "I hope you stay here for a long time."

With that, she runs out the door, her long blond hair trailing behind her.

I lie down on the bed and ignore my cluttered surroundings. _How did I get here?_ I close my eyes, too exhausted to even try and ponder the question. I already know the answer anyway. I was here because my parents thought I was crazy and didn't know how to deal with me. I take off my glasses and put them on the floor next to me before crawling under the covers. I sleep, and the memories come.

* * *

 _"I saw him! I saw him!" My parents look to one another uneasily, and I can already tell they don't believe me. I run out the door despite my mother's frantic calls. I would get proof. It takes an hour to reach his cafe by train, but when I burst through the door, he is still standing behind the counter, cleaning a set of ceramic coffee cups. He turns to look at me, his expression pulled into a frown. "What are you doing here kid, haven't you caused enough trouble?"_

 _"I saw you die... I saw it! How are you still here?!"_

 _"Listen. You were just having a bad dream. Nothing you're saying makes any sense. Just go home. Your parents are worried about you." Sojiro's frown only deepens as he pushes me out the door._

 _"You need to listen to me! I saw it, I saw you die! Listen to me!" In my mind's eye, I can see it again. His old body is lying on the floor and a demon with red eyes loom over him, his mouth dripping with blood. A line of Sojiro's long intestines is cradled in the demon's hands, and I'm watching, horrified, as it slurps them up like a string of noodles. Its Adam's apple bobs as it swallows._

 _I run until I reach home._

* * *

I wake up with a start, sweat dripping down my forehead. I wipe it off with the sleeve of my t-shirt. My uncle Sojiro was fine. He was alive and well every time I went to go see him. I knew that and my parents knew it too, but I was sure what I saw wasn't a dream. That was neither the first nor the last time some strange memory popped into my head. After a few months of failed psychotherapy my parents sent me here, a problem they could no longer be bothered to try and fix.

I take a quick shower and get started on the multitude of boxes around the room: Going through clothes, school supplies, a few video games, books, and my assortment of small house plants. I'm working on the finishing touches of a tall shelf when I hear a knock at my door.

Ryuji is standing outside when I open it. "Dinner is almost ready. Thought I'd come to get you since you wouldn't know." I grab my keys and walk out into the hall. He points to the completely black door on my left, "That's mine. Just knock if you ever need anything."

Dinner is a crowded affair. The dining room is located on the first floor, tucked away on the right side of the building. It was clear that the room was originally two different rooms, but someone had decided to destroy the wall between them, creating a spacious setting for its occupants. One table is placed against the wall and another sits parallel to the first for guests. A large double-doored fridge sits near the entrance while a small marble island separates the tables from a modern kitchen. Dishes both Western and traditional line the first table for us to choose our own dinners.

The room is loud, bustling with activity. People are walking around, grabbing dishes from open trays or switching seats to get a better conversation with their friends. While there is no real seating arrangement, I can see most of the people in the room are divided, almost invariably, by age.

Ryuji places a hand on my shoulder, calling my attention. "So how are you fitting in?"

I shrug. I'd resolved to keep my strange visions to myself. If my own family didn't believe me, there wasn't a chance in hell a group of strangers would. "It's not bad. The food is good at least."

He nods in agreement, his mouth already full. "Yeah. It's great. I hear Shinji helps out in the kitchen sometimes after work."

"Shinji?"

"Shinjiro Aragaki. You probably haven't met him yet. Lives on the third floor, mean-looking dude but he's a nice guy once you get to know him." Ryuji's eyes pull into a squint as he searches the room. "Ah, over there with the beanie. He works at the Le Fleurs pour Les Papillons or something like that on Maine street. It's the fanciest place in town. Way French."

The man he is pointing out definitely looked mean. His face is pulled into a scowl, yelling at the man sitting next to him. Ryuji continues with his exposition, pointing to several people and explaining their relationships. "That guy he's talking to is Akihiko Sanada. He's Makoto's brother, but their family situation is complicated from what I hear. You've met her right?" I nod, and he continues on around the table.

"Next to him is Ken Amada, also third floor. He's a year older than us, but everyone else on the third floor is in their twenties..." He pauses for a minute and then he's yelling to be heard over the noise. "Hey! Mina! Get over here!"

A girl with auburn hair and a face stuffed like a blowfish, looks up at the sound of her name. She is small, much shorter than me in a summer dress and sandals despite it being only May. The girl walks over to us, holding a nearly-full plate. "What's up?"

"This guy's name is Akira, and I wanted to introduce you. He's in 500 next to me."

Now that she is closer, I can see her eyes are red, like some sort of cheesy vampire. Despite the strange shade of her eyes, her smile is friendly. "Oh, it's nice to meet you. I'm Minako, but everyone just calls me Mina. You probably won't see me much."

When I blink, I'm no longer in the kitchen surrounded by people. Mina and I are alone, sitting on my bed. My arms are wrapped around her, pulling at the hem of her loose blouse. She's whispering in my ear, her voice husky and seductive. "If you make me happy tonight, I won't even make you pay." I can smell oranges in her hair, and it drives a hungry growl from my throat. My hand runs along her stomach, and she tilts her head back so I can press my lips into the skin of her neck.

"Akira…?" Mina is staring at me intently, and the image of her pressed against my bed disappears. All I see now, is a young woman with concerned eyes. "Are you alright?" She presses her hand against my forehead but I reflexively move back.

"Sorry. I'm fine. I… just... don't like being touched." Her look of worry disappears and her smile returns.

"Oh, sorry. I guess we have just met... Anyway, I was just saying, we have the night off for once so we were going to go to the bar after dinner. Why don't you guys come?"

"You work at night? What do you do?" The answer comes to me before she can respond.

"I'm a hostess, Souji works across the street at a host club, and Minato is the Vice President of Tanaka Corp so he's on-call pretty much 24 hours of the day. We never have the same nights off so it's a rare chance. Besides, Souji's been bragging lately about being the King of Games and I think Minato can't wait to beat him."

"Really? I've never seen Minato excited about anything." Ryuji's making a face at the statement, and I feel out of place between their inside joke.

Maybe Mina notices because she points to the man in question. "Minato is my brother, he's over there." I follow her gaze and find a strange-looking man. His blue hair is long, almost covering his eyes. Though the two girls he's talking to are laughing, there is no expression on his face. He's in typical salaryman attire with a white button-up and an ugly sushi print tie. A black jacket hangs on the back of his chair.

"The two of you look nothing alike." I murmur. Their only similarity comes from the fact that they're both abnormally pale, and I'm again reminded of vampires.

Mina giggles, chewing on a kabob. "We get that a lot, but we're fraternal twins so what do you expect?" She shrugs. "Anyway, I gotta go. Empty plate." She moves it up to show us before walking off to fill it up again, only to be swarmed by more people to talk to.

"Nice girl." I comment when she's out of the earshot. Though the strange memory is giving me more than enough reason to be wary, Mina is clearly attractive. She'd only been gone a few minutes and already, several people surrounded her.

"Yeah? Is she your type? Don't even think about it. The rules here about dating aren't all that strict, but she's way older and there's at least six guys in this building who've had their eyes on her for years." Ryuji's already shaking his head, patting me sadly on the shoulder.

The news doesn't surprise me. She would need to be charming if she was making money as a hostess.

"So about that thing tonight, do you want to go? If you're uncomfortable, I can come with." Ryuji is smiling, and a bit of my wariness melts away. This probably wasn't what my parents had in mind when they sent me here, but the people were nice enough. Better than the people back home who thought I was slowly going insane. If I kept my weird visions to myself, then everything would be fine. I could even make a couple friends.

"Sure. Do you know everyone whose going?"

* * *

About an hour later, I'm posted in the back of a silver Tesla with Ryuji, and a man named Yosuke Hanamura. Rise sits in the passenger seat next to the driver whose name I find vaguely familiar: Souji Seta.

"Thank God we didn't get Teddie." Yosuke yells as soon as we close the doors.

"He's not that bad." Ryuji counters.

"You don't live next to him. You wouldn't understand. Everyday, all he ever does is sing! Oh my god, it kills me."

"Who's Teddie?" My question throws them off for a moment, and everyone is silent in their attempts to try and give me a good description of him.

"He's... Kind of a hard man to describe. You'll know when you see him. He's the blond one with a flowery shirt and the slacks. Really blue eyes. He's the mascot for a mall in Akihabara." Yosuke is the one to give the description, and I fail in trying to find anyone to match it. "Mina is the only person at the apartment who doesn't completely hate him."

"I don't _hate_ him." Rise interjects, putting a heavy emphasis on the word hate.

"You hate him when he sneaks into the girls showers." Yosuke argues.

"Nope. Chie always beats him to death afterwards. Makes it all worthwhile." Rise giggles at the thought.

"Do you all live on the fourth floor?" I ask, making mental notes to myself.

"Yes." Souji speaks for the first time, and his voice is surprisingly deep. Despite the silver hair, he looks young, with an almost chubby face. His black button up is open over a white wife beater. He could look dangerous if it weren't for the mushroom cut and child-like face. "We all lived in the same village when we were younger but the place became infested with some strange disease. Killed a lot of people."

The car grows quiet at the statement, and I'm hit with another strange vision. People are falling asleep and failing to wake up without any rhyme or reason. Their skin turns yellow, then gray, and finally decomposing down to the bones within a matter of hours.

Finally, after a few minutes of the suffocating silence, Yosuke claps his hands, and places one on my shoulder. "So... you're new here. Got your eyes on any of the cute girls? I am obligated to warn you that all of the girls on our floor are no good."

Rise reaches around the chair to smack him on the arm. "What's that supposed to mean?! Naoto and I are both _single and looking_." She shoots a look at Souji as she says the words, glaring at Yosuke. The expression is unmistakable. The silver-haired boy was definitely her target, and I instantly feel bad for the man named Kanji.

Yosuke ignores her, laughing at her weak attempts to shut him up. "Chie and Yukiko are dating each other so… you get the idea. As for Rise here, our girl has her eyes set on one person and one person only."

Using his hand to shield us from the front, he whispers, "Naoto has been dating Souji for a couple months, but none of us have the guts to tell Rise to let him go. Kanji is trying to ease her into it, but it's not really working."

Another vision claws its way to the surface of my mind. Rise and Kanji are arguing in the common area next to the stairs. She's angry and pushes him against the railing. There is no snap, no sound except for the slam of human bone against wood as it breaks under the pressures of gravity.

"I see." I try my best to sound nonchalant. Yosuke nods, leaning back into his seat. We reach our destination without much more conversation. We're the second to arrive after Mina's small car. Her group is waiting outside, consisting of the man who is clearly Teddie, Mina herself, her brother, and the girl from my floor named Makoto.

The man named Teddie is loud, and I can immediately tell why everyone hates him. He's talking so quickly it almost seems like he doesn't need to breathe. Half of what comes out of his mouth are bad puns and the rest is nonsense.

A third car driven by Junpei arrives shortly afterward, carrying the rest of the group. We enter the bar together to find it mostly empty. Immediately, Minato grabs a pool cue and throws his tie at his sister for safe-keeping. Souji stands on the opposite side of the twins, blocking off most of the light that shines from the single bulb above their heads. "If you lose Minato, I'm taking Mina on a date."

"Over my dead body." Both of their voices are quiet and emotionless. I can't tell if this is friendly banter or if the two of them are actually serious and Yosuke has the wrong idea about Souji's love life.

"No one goes on a date with Mina." Ryuji whispers. I laugh at what I assume to be a joke but start a different game with Ryuji, Ken and Junpei instead. The two men from the third floor do quite well, and I wonder how and why our rooms are divided the way they are. Ken is closer to my age, and I'm tempted to talk to him but his face is pulled into a frown. I go to Jupnei instead. "So how long have you known Ken?"

Junpei looks momentarily surprised at my question but then smiles, "I've known Ken for close to ten years. We've been through a lot together." He places a hand on the table, looking off into the gloom of the drinking den. "All of us on the third floor used to live together on an island in Iwatodai, but the island sunk after an earthquake. The twins moved to the apartment first, and then Mitsuru, Yukari, and all of us moved in after that."

"What do you mean?"

"You didn't know? The apartments only accepts applications if you have a recommendation from someone else whose already been accepted." It looks like he's about to say something else, but then Ken taps him on the shoulder, and our conversation is cut short.

After a few more poorly placed shots on my part, our game ends with their victory and I wander back to Mina's table. She's playing a new game with Souji while her brother and a third man stand off to one side. The latter turns to look at me as I approach and I can tell that he's probably a popular person. He's dressed like Souji, but his hair is straight and black with a beauty mark under his left eye.

"Hello. You're the new guy right? I'm Ryoji Mochizuki. Room 313. I've heard a lot about you."

I nod, perplexed. "You have? What do people say about me?"

He doesn't answer me for a moment, and I wonder if he heard me. The smile on his face is friendly, commercial even, like something he would display for customers. "Oh, nothing important. Just that you seem like a nice guy. It's a shame someone's going to kill you soon."

* * *

 **Flag: Will Akira try and figure out what Ryoji meant [Requires: Motivationx2] or ignore the man completely?**


	2. Investigating the Answer (1)

**Requirement met. Yu Narukami's name has been changed to Souji Seta. This setting will have no affect on your progress. Day two: Now commencing...**

* * *

 _"I'm sorry. But I can't let anyone know. They'll cry if they find out." Glowing red eyes seem to follow me as I run through the alley onto a main street. The sounds of life and humanity put some of my fears at ease, but I know that this is an illusion. That thing might still kill me here._

 _I try to look behind me but there are too many people to get a clear picture. I needed to get home. I run for the train station, wiping the condensation off my glasses. I get to Scramble Crossing when I feel something slide across my back. No pain registers, just the wind as it tears into the new opening in my jacket, licking at open wounds. Did blood freeze in the cold?_

 _I collapse onto the ground, twitching. A woman is screaming nearby. This was a nice jacket too..._

* * *

I wake up in a cold sweat, and I can feel the first rays of sunlight peer into my nearly empty room. Traces of the nightmare still linger in the air, but I already feel them disappearing from my memory, slipping through my fingers like sand.

I check my closet for the jacket in my dream. It's there. Of course, there is no sign of the impossible wound. My phone reads 6:12am. Early. Too early considering how late we stayed out last night. After Ryoji's threat I didn't want to stay anymore, but getting back up to the dorm without a car was nearly impossible, and I didn't want to waste the money on a taxi. _It's a shame someone's going to kill you soon._

What did he mean by that? For the rest of the night, he'd been nice, even friendly. No matter how many times I brought him back to the subject, he'd feigned innocence. He bought me a drink, and we even played a nice round of darts with some other people at the dorm, so why the ominous words? I check the drawer beside my bed, and I find my stash of knives. I was something of an enthusiast when it came to small combat weapons, another reason my parents considered me clinically insane. _Creepy._ That's what the people in my class called me.

I leave my room to find a tall man in a yukata walking past me, only to stop in surprise at my presence. "Oh, hello. Futaba told me we had someone new. My name's Yusuke Kitagawa. In room 504."

"Akira. 500." I'm about to ask him who Futaba is, but he's already shaking my hand, and I'm distracted by the almost delicate fingers. He is prim and proper, like someone from a noble family. His hair is immaculate, perfectly combed to the side so that not a strand is out of place. The complete opposite of my uncontrollable curls.

He turns to walk back to his room, which it turns out, is on the opposite side of Ryuji's. "Enjoy the rest of your break. If you'd like to go out for a cup of tea some time I'd be happy to accompany you." The Japanese door to his room slides open, and I can see the walls and floors are covered in large, water-color paintings.

As I go through my morning routine, my mind shifts through the list of people I'd met and had interactions with. Most of them were normal despite what my visions might indicate. The only one who seemed even remotely odd was Ryoji, and that entire exchange could've been a hallucination.

When I get to the dining room, it is quieter than the night before. Lavenza and the managers of the other floors are walking around, preparing the breakfast table with bread, eggs, and a variety of bagels. I give Lavenza a pat on the head as I walk by. "Good morning."

She smiles, a blush creeping under her blond braids. "Good morning Akira. You're up early. Do you have class?"

I shake my head. "Class doesn't start until next month. Just didn't sleep very well."

She nods her head in understanding, oddly mature for a girl her age. She couldn't be much older than 11 maybe 12. "It must be uncomfortable sleeping in a new bed. If you'd like, I can bring you up a futon."

I smile at her earnestness. She was sweet, but a futon wasn't going to solve my problems. "I'll be okay. Is breakfast almost ready?"

She nods, pointing at an older woman in her late twenties, maybe earlier thirties. Her face holds a strong resemblance to Lavenza, and the clothes don't help clear away the similarities. Their blue dresses and black gloves are nearly identical to one another. "I'm just helping Mama set the table."

The woman walks over to me, and bows just slightly, marking things off on a clipboard. "Good morning Mr. Kurusu. My name is Margaret and I'm head manager here at the Velvet Apartments. If you need any help at all, you can always ask. Lavenza has a good head on her shoulders, and I'm sure she'll be able to help you."

There is an element of mystery around her that I don't quite understand. Her smile, while gorgeous, is also cryptic, like she's playing a small prank on me. I awkwardly try to return her bow, and immediately feel uncomfortable. "Uh…Yes. Of course. She's…great. Just great."

Margaret smiles again, leading her daughter away by the hand. Lavenza waves as they leave. I turn to the rest of the room and see that there are more people here than I originally thought. I recognize most of them from Ryuji's montage last night and I head over to sit next to two men who seem to be in a heated conversation.

The first man pauses mid-sentence at my arrival, as if guarding a closely held secret. His once-over is uncomfortable if not completely rude. "I don't think we've met. My name's Akihiko Sanada."

He's in a plain police uniform, his badge still sitting on his shirt. The muscles on his arm and chest are well-defined even under his multiple layers of clothing. Here was a man who had every ability to protect, or to kill. "Akira Kurusu. I officially moved in yesterday afternoon. Mina mentioned your name last night. Did you just come in from work?"

"Yes. I work the night shift." His eyes are narrowed on me, and I can already see that I've started on bad footing. "So you're already friends with Mina? That girl sure gets around." There's a bitterness in his voice that I don't understand, and I can feel another vision struggling to break free from the confines of my sanity.

"Don't listen to him. Mina's nice to everyone." I turn to look at the other man, or now that I look at her closely, woman, next to him. "I'm Naoto Shirogane, Head Detective of the Homicide department at precinct 4."

The words catch me off-guard. Naoto. Souji and Yosuke mentioned her last night in the car, but her appearance shocks me. She has long blue hair extending down her back. Her clothes are modest, hiding any indication of her gender. She's small as well, impossible to reconcile with her title. "Really…? You look a little…"

"Weak? Small? Feminine?" Her eyes are narrowed, almost angry. Clearly a sore subject.

I shy away under the scrutiny, my eyes aligning themselves with the pattern of the table cloth. "I was going to say young."

The expression disappears and she chuckles. It's a clear soft sound, like a bell. "Oh…Well, I suppose I am."

Akihiko sighs, leaning back in his chair. "Naoto is the youngest detective in history, never mind head of her department. She's only 21."

The news genuinely surprises me. "21...? How is that possible?"

"Her grandfather is a famous private investigator and forensic specialist, but she's almost too amazing at her job. Her team has the highest success rate in all of Japan." Akihiko is smiling and it transforms his face. His earlier animosity is gone, and he looks more mature than before.

"It's nothing special. I've got a good team. But Akihiko has turned down nearly every promotion he's gotten AND he has over a dozen busts under his belt." I can see Naoto's face flush as she lists his accomplishments, and I immediately wonder again at the validity of Yosuke's gossip from last night.

"I just don't want to end up like my dad." Akihiko sighs, looking at the empty plate in front of him. "I don't want to sit behind a desk doing nothing my whole life. What's the point of being a cop if I'm not helping people?" His face is pained, conflicted in a way that seems to ignore the people around him. I'm tempted to ask him what he means about his father, but the subject seems too personal for a stranger like me to broach. Instead, I stand up to grab three plates of breakfast for us and Akihiko seems grateful for the consideration.

Our conversation over breakfast afterwards is easy. The two of them have incredible stories about all sorts of crimes. They are in the middle of telling me about one of their cases when Minato enters the room, his sister laughing behind him, steering him by the shoulders. Akihiko shuts up immediately, and I can see he's watching the twins with the same bitterness from before. Naoto's attention follows them for a moment before turning back to Akihiko, and the concern is unmistakable. "Aki -"

"Don't. I need to go. I'm tired." He abruptly stands up, and marches to the stairs, leaving his breakfast unfinished behind him.

Naoto watches him go before sighing, dropping her cutlery to her plate. "Did something happen between them?" I ask.

Her eyes seem to weigh some sort of risk against the benefits of telling me before she sighs again, "Mina and Akihiko were dating for about 3 years before they came to the apartment. Mina tells me the first year after that was fine. They were weeks away from getting married before she suddenly decided to work at a hostess club. It was so odd. She didn't tell anyone beforehand and she wouldn't explain anything afterwards. No one knows what happened. Akihiko couldn't accept it, so they broke up."

I roll the story over in my mind. It explained his reaction just now, and his bitterness when I mentioned her earlier. It _was_ hard to accept. Working at a hostess club was almost akin to being a prostitute. You would be hard-pressed to find _any_ man who _would_ be able to accept it. "I guess I can understand. Does it bother you that Souji works at a host club?"

"No. Not at all. Why would it?"

"You know, since the two of you are dating." I press.

Her head is tilted slightly to the right, her face pulled into a frown. The confusion is genuine. "Where did you hear that? We're not together."

"But..." I stop myself before I can say another word. There were several explanations. Yosuke could've been lying, playing a prank on the new guy. Maybe Naoto was lying, too shy to tell something personal to someone she's just met. I would not jump to the third conclusion. Instead, I push the contradiction to the back of my mind. "I see... I might've... misheard someone earlier."

She nods thoughtfully, and we fall into quiet as we finish our breakfast. She heads off to work shortly after and I mull over everything I've learned about the complicated relationships around the dorm. I'm almost tempted to draw a chart, but as I reach my room, I see the fluffy-haired girl from yesterday standing outside my door. I try to dig through my memories for a name but draw a blank.

"Hi Akira, we met yesterday? Makoto asked me to take you over to the school to fill out your paperwork." She's wearing a pink jacket over a plaid skirt and polka-dot tights, a strange outfit to be sure, and combined with her puffy hair, I'm again reminded of a dog, something like a cross between a dalmatian and a poodle.

I nod, and she pulls me outside the building into the overhang where all the two-wheeled modes of transportation are parked. Two bicycles are sitting there, one for herself, and one, strangely, for me. "Kanji on the fourth floor is a student-teacher at the academy so he drives us to school most of the time but it's out of session right now so I asked Ryuji if you could borrow his bike and he agreed." She says the entire sentence all in one breath, as if she's not sure when to breathe.

The two of us get down the steep hill in almost no time at all. As we travel, I learn her name again, which is Haru, and she points out several prominent locations along the way. The town is bigger than I expect. There are cafes, clubs, restaurants, and a variety of different recreational shops. As it turns out, the high school campus sits on the edge of the college one. "I will be starting college here in April, so I'll see you pretty often, I think. If you can get on Kanji's good side, he might even give you a ride."

The paperwork is tedious, but understandable. Not many people transferred into a new school in their senior year. It would have an adverse effect on university exams. I didn't want to do it, but my parents didn't give me much choice.

As we're riding back to the hill, Haru points to a small shop by the main street. It's quaint and very simple from the outside. A bell rings above us as we walk through the door. The smell is instant: both familiar and nauseating. An image of Uncle Sojiro's body being torn into like a fat juicy steak floats just below the surface of my every move. I excuse myself away from Haru almost the minute I walk in.

She appears beside me a few minutes later, a chocolate machiatto in her hands. "Are you alright? You looked pretty panicked in there."

I can feel my hands shaking so I hide them in the pockets of my jacket. "I'm fine. I don't like the smell of coffee."

She looks down at her drink, her face pulled into a frown. "Oh...I'm sorry. I didn't know."

I shake my head. "Not your fault. Let's head home."

The short ride back to the hill is quiet. I don't make any effort at conversation and Haru seems too uncomfortable now to try. We climb off the bikes as we reach the base, and she immediately bows in apology. "I'm sorry for dragging you off to a cafe when we know nothing about each other. It must have made you uncomfortable."

My immediate reaction is to brush her off, but that seems like the wrong move given the circumstances. We'd spent nearly the entire day together, and she'd been a big help. Plus, she didn't get angry when I talked about my house plants. There wasn't any reason to be too polite. "Hey, it's fine. It's not like you tricked me into drinking elephant poop."

The cup of machiatto drops to the ground, splashing her shoes and the bottom of her tights. She shows no reaction to the fact that her clothes are now covered in brown coffee stains. "You...you've read about it too?!"

I didn't. I had no idea what she was talking about, "Yeah. Of course."

She is practically beaming with joy, and I have no idea why. "It's such an innovative idea. I can't wait to try a cup. I know it sounds really gross to a lot of people but I hear it really brings out the flavor." She goes on a really long spiel as we climb the hill back to the apartment and it takes me a few moments to piece the strange story about elephant poop together. We're almost at the top when Haru abruptly stops mid-sentence. I'm about to ask her if something is wrong, when she presses her finger to her lips.

I strain my ears to pick up the sound, but then I hear it too. Two people are shouting at each other in front of the apartment complex.

"...You're 25 years old! Stop acting like a child. Sae-" I immediately realize the voice belongs to Makoto, and I can see the same spark of recognition on Haru's face.

"I don't care what Sae has to say, and I _definitely_ don't care what you have to say. Leave me alone. I need to get to work." I don't need to wonder at all who the second voice belongs to. It can only be Akihiko. This was clearly a private conversation but there was nowhere to go. We needed to go into the apartment, but moving forward now would reveal that the two of us had been eavesdropping. We inch forward enough just to see the conversation through a hedge of tulips.

"You're my brother! We're family! Dad-" Makoto's voice is strained, and despite her controlled appearance, she was clearly angry.

Akihiko walks around her, and I can see him pull on a set of black gloves as he pushes her out of the way. "You might remember that I grew up in an orphanage. The only sister I have is Miki, and the only sibling I have left, is Shinji. So no. You're not my sister. Both you and _your_ sister should go play house somewhere else." He slams the car door before revving up the engine and pulling out of the large courtyard. Haru and I press ourselves into the wall so he doesn't see us as he passes.

We wait until Makoto goes back into the dorm before we make any substantial movements. The front lawn is quiet now that the exchange is over. The two of us return the bikes to the shelter in silence until Haru breaks it. "We didn't hear anything!"

Her strange outburst catches me by surprise, "...What?"

"We didn't hear anything between Makoto and Akihiko! Nothing! Do you understand?! Nothing!" Her face is frantic, and her eyes appear almost crazed. Her poofy hair seems downright frizzy now. Her fingers are clawing into my wrists, the pain making me wince. I nod, speechlessly, half in fear and half out of desperation for her to let me go.

"Good...Good..." Her claws detract, and she disappears into the building. The lawn is quiet, and I'm almost convinced that I imagined the entire episode. I check my wrists for any sign of damage but they're clear. No bruises or claw marks. The walk up to my room is tiring, and I wonder vaguely why such a tall building doesn't have an elevator.

"It does."

My head snaps to the source of the voice. Ryoji is standing against the railing, similar to the way Rise had been yesterday afternoon. "Did you just read my mind?"

"You were talking out loud." His smile is cordial, as friendly as can be. I can feel goosebumps pop up on my arm, alert to danger. "There's an elevator behind the dinning room. The staff here use it to get where they need to go. If you ask one of them, I'm sure they'll let you use it, but it won't operate without one of their keys."

Logic dictates he's lying. I've never had a habit of thinking out loud, but the idea of him being a mind reader was equally as impossible. I go with the most neutral response: walking past him to the next flight of steps. "Thanks for the tip."

"Why are you still here?" His smile is still cordial, but there's a glint in his eyes. Every sensor in my body is telling me he's dangerous, not to be trusted.

"I don't know what you're talking about." I want to leave, but my body doesn't respond. My feet feel like cement bricks, pinning me to the spot.

"Are you feigning stupidity or am I actually that untrustworthy?" He walks to lean against the wall at the foot of the stairs. "I warned you last night. Someone is trying to kill you. Why are you still here? You need to leave."

I don't answer him, but the weight in my feet lifts. I can walk again. I run up the steps three at a time. His voice calls after me, perpetually friendly. "It was nice talking to you! We should get a cup of tea sometime."

My room is a picture of normality. Peace, quiet, simplicity. My house plants look healthy and well-cared for. I didn't want to leave them behind. I could go home, have my parents call the apartment to send it all back. Lavenza and the rest of the staff were nice enough. They would probably do that for me. But what would I tell my mom and dad? Someone threatened me so I came rushing home? And what would happen after that? They would ask me who it was. They might even storm here, and ask Ryoji what he was trying to pull. He would deny the whole thing and I would appear even more insane than before.

No. I couldn't run away just yet.

Ryoji Mochizuki.

The man seemed almost unhinged. I needed to learn more about him. That was the logical thing to do. I check my clock, before walking out into the hall, and knocking on Ryuji's door. There are sounds of intense shuffling inside before it opens, revealing the blond man without any pants on. "Yo, what's up?"

"Are you going down for dinner?" His room is incredibly messy behind him. Food containers and clothes are scattered throughout the floor. I can barely identify his bed underneath a pile of what looks like discarded and out-of-date magazines.

He reaches behind him to pull out a modern cellphone to check the time. "Oh, shi- Yeah. Hold on. Just let me get dressed." It takes him less than two seconds to pull on a pair of pants and we're on our way.

The dinning room is just as crowded as it was the day before, but now I recognize more faces. Naoto is having a conversation with the twins, and it's almost striking how similar she looks to Minato. Souji has a lunchbag slung over his shoulder and two paper plates in his hands. He calls to Mina and the two hurry out the door. She waves to me as she goes by.

Haru and Makoto are also talking whilst sharing a bowl of fruit and they wave me over, but I ignore them. My strange afternoon had not been forgotten, and I couldn't risk saying too much. Plus, I was here for other reasons. I grab a plate and walk across the room to Ken and Junpei instead. The man named Shinjiro is sitting next to Junpei with Ken across from them. All three look up at my approach, clearly surprised. "Can I sit here?"

They look at each other briefly, but nod. There's a white dog I've never seen before at their feet, and he moves out of the way to let me sit. "Is that your dog?" I direct my question at Ken and he looks sheepish to be directly spoken to.

"No... Koromaru is... it's actually a long story. Not very interesting." He looks away. The other two look equally as awkward and I don't press the subject. The three of them are clearly uncomfortable in my presence so I skip the small talk and get directly down to business. "So do any of you know that Ryoji guy?"

Shinjiro only shakes his head, but Junpei and Ken share a look that I can't quite place. It looks like a cross between disbelief and anger. Junpei is the one who answers me. "Ryoji... Are you sure you're not talking about Ryuji?" He's pointing at Ryuji who is directly on my right. I'd brought him for this exact reason.

"No... Ryoji Mochi... something." Junpei's anger seems to surge whereas Ken's disbelief looks stronger and I automatically sense something is wrong. Their reactions didn't make sense. It isn't too odd that I would meet him and learn his name, especially since we all went to the bar together last night. Ryoji had been in Junpei's car, hadn't he? He wasn't in Souji's or Mina's, so that was the logical conclusion.

"..." Junpei says something I don't quite catch.

"I'm sorry. Can you say that again?"

"...How do you know that name?!" Junpei reaches over the table to grab my shirt. I'm too shocked to stop him. Shinjiro, Ryuji, and Ken immediately reach for his arms, trying to wrench them back. The room is in an uproar, everyone is screaming. Two of the attendants in the building immediately rush over, one male and one female. The woman slaps Junpei's wrists and he immediately lets go. The woman is about to reprimand him when he turns and walks away. The anger is unmistakable. Junpei is seething.

Shinjiro, Ryuji, and Ken watch him go, none of them saying a word. I apologize quickly to the attendants, and they calm everyone else down. Unexpectedly, Shinjiro is the one who broaches the subject first. "What the hell was that?!"

Ken jumps at the exclamation, clearly still shocked. "But... Never mind...You were in the hospital when it happened..." Ken turns to look at me, studying me like a dangerous animal, "...How did you know that name?"

I'm scared to tell him the truth but I can think of nothing else. There is nothing to formulate a lie with. I have absolutely no information to work with. "I met a man yesterday when we were at the bar... That's what he told me his name was. He'd... He'd been odd! But he told me he lived on the third floor...so I decided to ask you about him!"

Ken shakes his head, his eyes clearly disbelieving, almost suspicious. "Someone's playing a cruel prank on you but I can't guess who."

"What... What do you mean?"

"He transferred into the school in Junpei's second year. Around Halloween. The two of them became close friends right away. Junpei didn't have many... but then, Ryoji joined that cult. The one that kept talking about the Fall, the end of the world. You probably don't remember." I didn't. This must have happened years ago, in a city far removed from Tokyo.

...he..." Ken swallows, and I can see his hands are shaking. Ken's eyes are scanning the room, as if searching for some sort of escape, but then they lock on Shinjiro. The older man nods, urging him to continue. "He... Ryoji...He called himself the Avatar. The Bringer of the Fall... He came to the school with a bomb. Junpei's girlfriend died in the explosion."

* * *

 **Flag: Flee back to Tokyo [default], confront the man named Ryoji** **[Requires: Bravery x2]** **, seek help from NPC [Requires: Motivation x3 and name of NPC].**


	3. Game Over (1)

**Requirement not met. Route one selected. Sequence commencing...**

* * *

I'm standing but I don't know when I stood up. Shinjiro is staring at Ken like he's crazy but Ryuji's eyes are on me, filled to the brim with apprehension. My first instinct is to go to Junpei and apologize for what I'd done, but I don't move. A piece of the puzzle is still missing.

"Ryoji...What happened to Ryoji..." My lips are dry, my words barely more than a whisper. The rest of the dining room is loud, full of conversation. Laughter. Mirth. No one hears my question, or my fear. Ken answers me anyway.

"He's dead." The implications of his words hang onto me like wet clothes. _He's dead._ Dead. Like my uncle Sojiro in my dreams.

I turn and walk away from them without a word. My face is blank, devoid of emotion because I'm devoid of thought. I force myself not to think, to push all the madness away. I can hear Shinjiro, Ken, and Ryuji calling after me. Ryuji's is the only voice that stands out. My friend and floor mate seems more than a touch worried. None of them follow.

The hallway is empty. By myself, all my reflexes kick in and I run to my room. Fear pushes me.

I could see everything clearly. My room is normal. Ryoji Mochizuki wasn't. The people on the third floor had something horrible happen to them. The pain of that event still follows Junpei. The trail of reasoning ends there. Ryoji Mochizuki couldn't be alive. He couldn't have been at that bar. We couldn't have played darts together. He couldn't have bought me a drink or threatened me. All those things happened but they couldn't have happened, so what was the only reasonable explanation?

 _I'm not crazy._

 _I'm not crazy._

 _I'M NOT CRAZY._

 _I'm NoT cRazY._

 _I'm not crazy_

I crawl into the safety of a corner on my bed and contemplate my options. There weren't many. Ryoji Mochizuki. Room 313. I could go. I could check. It would only be two floors down. A simple matter to confirm it actually existed. I could also ask one of the assistants for help. Lavenza would be more than happy to. She'd said her aunt and uncle were in charge of the third floor. They could help too. All it would take was one phone call.

I throw my suitcase onto my bed, stuffing it full of clothing. My fingers close around the jacket from my dreams. I can still feel the wind as it blows through the hole in the back, but my jacket remains pristine in reality. It is unblemished, whole. I throw it in and close the suitcase. My houseplants won't fit. The books will be too much baggage. I'll have them sent back to my parent's house. I stuff my blanket into a backpack with my ID, and wallet. I stuff one knife each into the pocket of my jeans and leave the rest next to my wallet.

My parents won't welcome me at home. They'll think it's another episode. Another misunderstanding. How do I explain to them that a man who should be dead is threatening me? My next destination would be an asylum. No more second chances.

I write a letter to Lavenza or whichever staff member will clean up after my mess. Would they pack up my books? My games? Would they take care of my houseplants so they don't get crushed in travel? Or would all these things be burned into ash to avoid the extra hassle? I drop my keys next to the letter for one of them to find.

Tokyo is only 30 minutes away by train. It should be easy enough to disappear into the big city. Where this ghost, demon, or some variant of the two will never find me. Where the madness wouldn't consume me. I could find a small apartment to live in. Work menial jobs. Quit school. Whatever it took. The last train out of this town would pass in two hours. A normal walk down the hill took close to an hour. With my luggage, maybe a little more. I would barely make it if I ran with the suitcase in front of me.

I close the light and then my door. The click is soft and quiet, the complete opposite of the emotions swirling like a cacophony inside me. The hallway is empty, and so is the common area. The plan was to move as quietly as possible so I could avoid disturbing or alerting anyone else. It would be safer if no one saw me leave. This plan is shattered almost immediately. Kanji Tatsumi is sitting on the couch of the fourth floor common room. He has a ball of yarn by his thigh and a needle in his hand. The beginnings of a sweater lie in his lap.

I pick up speed in trying to avoid him, but he gets up and rushes over to stand in front of me, blocking the road to the stairway. His giant paw of a hand grabs onto my shoulder. "Hey! Are you...leaving? Is it cause of what I said the other day? I'm sorry. Look, I know I overreacted. Rise's always been kind of open with people and that gives guys the wrong idea so-"

I immediately cut him off. "No. It's not about what you said. Or Rise. Honestly, I've practically forgotten about it. I...Just don't think this is the right place for me. I think I'm going back to Tokyo. My parents live there and it's more what I'm used to."

Kanji lets go of my shoulder, and his face is relieved. He's even smiling, and it transforms him from an angry yakuza to an innocent child. One that begged Lavenza to forgive him and required Rise's help just to stand and walk back to his room. The ball of yarn sitting on the couch glares at me with an unspoken accusation. Kanji follows my gaze to it. "It's a Christmas present for Yukiko. I know it's only April but I'm making one for everyone at the dorm. It might take a while to make them all."

I nod in response to the strange comment because I don't know what else to say. He's not at all what I expected. We might've been friends given enough time but there wasn't any. I needed to leave. Staying here any longer would really drive me insane if I wasn't already. "I'm sorry we didn't get much of a chance to get to know each other. You seem like a nice person." I bow my head sightly. The reaction is immediate. Kanji throws up his hands defensively and turns away to hide a crimson blush. It's strangely adorable, and discomfort courses over my skin.

"Oh, no! No! Crap. Ah... Yeah, me too. If you ever... decide to come back, maybe we can try talking again. You know what, I'll make you a sweater too, and have Lavenza mail it to you for Christmas." He moves to shake my hand but then thinks better of it, and takes two steps to the side so I can pass. I thank him again as I walk by, carrying my suitcase down another floor.

Almost the entirety, or what I think is the entirety of the third floor is sitting in their common room when I arrive. Most of them surround Junpei, whose sitting on the center of the couch. They all turn to look at me when I pass. Even the dog is watching me with keen, and intelligent eyes. Mina isn't here, and for that I'm almost glad. She'd been the nicest of them, and I don't know what kind of expression she would be making.

The two redheaded women from the first day are also present. One of them looks indifferent, but the other seems to be watching me with such disdain, I almost recoil.

"Leaving, are you?" Junpei is the one to speak. The anger is gone, but the pain looks fresh. Open. I didn't notice before, but he has something like a burn scar to the right side of his neck. Now that I scan the people in the room, many of them also possess hints of scars. They're not immediately visible, but they're there. Obscured by the hem of their clothing, or maybe the heavy jackets that many of them wear.

I nod in response to his question that isn't really a question. He doesn't look surprised. I'm about to leave without speaking again but then I turn to them. My words come out in a rush. "I'm sorry for what I said earlier. I hope you can forgive me. You won't see me again. I'm taking the last train out."

"Stay. I'll give you a ride." Minato, Mina's twin is the one who speaks. He moves to stand in front of me, blocking my exit. It's possible to go around him, but I don't dare to. They outnumbered me, more than a few of them looked angry, and they clearly wanted something.

A girl with blue hair moves to stand next to him, and the rest of the room close in around me in a half-circle with my back against the railing, boxing me into a corner. Junpei completes the circle directly to my right. He's the one I turn to when I speak. "What... what do you people want?"

"Tell us again how you know about Ryoji." The angry redhead is nearly spitting with spite.

It takes all of my self-control not to stutter. "I don't! He was just a random man at the bar. He came up to me and told me his name. I didn't know anything about him! He seemed normal at first, but then he started talking about rumors, and me dying! He told me his room number was 313! He... He didn't say anything else!" I can feel the panic rising at the base of my stomach and working its way into my brain. My words come out in a jumble. Even to my own ears, they sound mad. The ramblings of a lunatic.

"Really..." Minato is looking at me, I think. I can't see his face underneath the mass of hair that is his bangs, but he's facing me. The disbelief is dripping from the one word.

"I..." They wouldn't believe me. There was no way to explain to them that I saw someone who wasn't dead, die or that a real-live cannibal had killed me once, and that I was running from a killer I wasn't even sure existed. If I told them any of those things, they would think I was insane, and they would probably be right. I would be thrown in prison faster than I could blink. "I don't know anything. I don't know why anyone would want to kill me."

The group is quiet at my statement, as if contemplating the validity of my story. I consider telling them about my encounter with Ryoji from earlier in the afternoon but almost immediately reject the idea. It had only been a few hours ago, and in almost the exact same spot. The conversation had been short and there weren't any hidden meanings. He'd said the same things as that first day. Someone wanted to kill me. I needed to leave. That was it. Blatant. Simple. Clear.

"What did he look like?" The girl with blue hair asks. She seems the most passive. Her face is almost quizzical, compared to the palpable distrust of the others.

"Black hair. There's a mole under one of his eyes. He was handsome I guess, but nothing outstanding. He seemed fashionable. I don't know. There wasn't anything else different about him except the mole" The air stills around us. The others are quiet, but they're all looking at each other uneasily. There is only one exception.

Minato walks up to me, breaking the half circle. He sweeps his bangs up and the resemblance is unmistakable. They're nearly identical except for one very obvious and grotesque feature. Instead of the mole under his eye is a pink scar that takes up nearly the entire quadrant of his face. The pupil is a pale grey, almost completely white. "Like me?"

It takes me what seems like an eternity to find my voice. "Yes... Yes... Identical...What are you..."

Minato doesn't answer. He lets his hair fall back down to cover the deformity as Junpei grabs my collar, shoving me into the railing. "What the hell are you hiding?! This isn't possible!"

"Let him go, Junpei. Now."

"Mitsuru!"

"He's not lying Junpei. You can tell. He looks terrified."

Junpei practically throws me as he lets go, stomping to a wall and punching it with anger. "He can't be alive, Mitsuru! He can't! He was holding the bomb!"

"We know. But questioning the boy won't make a difference. He doesn't know anything." For the first time, her face breaks the cold mask and I can see pain, maybe even some pity. She turns to look at me, and when she does it's like she's speaking to a lost child. "You're either a ghost whisperer or a hell of an actor. If Akihiko were here he'd know which, but we won't hold you. Just leave. Don't come back. Don't mention that name again. Don't look for him either. You won't find him in any official record."

Minato grabs my suitcase and heads for the stairs. I immediately follow him down. The entire crew watches us as we leave, not one of them showing any indication of wanting to help or having anything to add. The anxiety from unfinished business pesters me all the way to the first floor. I'm hesitant to talk to Minato after seeing his face, but there are too many questions. There's too much I want to know. He is Mina's brother, after all. How bad could he be?

"Are you..." I pause, trying to find the right words to phrase my almost offensive question. He doesn't prod or offer any assistance. There's no indication he's heard me at all. "Are you blind?"

There's a silence as we reach the front door. Somewhere off in one of the distant rooms, I can hear the assistants working. "Only in the one eye."

I lapse into silence. Did it happen in that explosion? What happened on that island? There wasn't any news in Japan about a school bombing in the last ten years. I used to think things were relatively peaceful. Why hadn't it been on the national news? It certainly would have warranted it.

"What happened on that island? Why was there a cult? Why did Ryoji join and kill himself? Why doesn't anybody except the nine of you know about the explosion?"

We've reached his car, which it turns out, is the same one Mina drove to the bar that night. He throws my suitcase into the backseat, ignoring the trunk entirely. He pauses at door to the driver's seat. "You're asking the wrong questions."

I run to the passenger side to join him in the car. "Then what are the right questions?"

He's silent on the ride down the hill. The nearly hour walk is shortened to a mere 10 minutes. It's only another five to the station. Five minutes to get whatever information Minato was willing to give me. I could've asked him for help. I could have asked any of them. They knew something I didn't. They wanted to be a part of this. They wanted Ryoji, not me. It should have been them.

"Are you all sure he's dead?"

"Honestly, no." The question should have been silly. Junpei said Ryoji was holding the bomb. If the explosion killed others around him, it definitely should've killed the man holding it.

"...What do you mean, no?" How can you not be sure?" I'm almost ready to throttle this man. He was much older than me. The least he could do was act like it.

"Never found a body." He has his window rolled down, with his elbow perched on the frame to hold up his head. He's the paradigm of nonchalance and it irks me. Ryoji's bomb probably destroyed his face and he didn't even seem to care.

"...How do you know that? Did you guys look?" It's the last question I get out before we reach the train station. He parks the car without another word, getting my suitcase from the backseat.

I reach down to grab it from him, resigned to the fact that he probably won't answer me, but then he puts a hand on my shoulder. The cold seeps into my skin. Ice seems to pour from his hand and reach under my shirt, deep into my veins to course through my body. It burns and holds me in place at the same time. "Everyone pays a price for changing the past. You may not see it at first. You might not even realize it's happening, but then you'll wake up and realize something important to you is gone and it's too late to save it."

"What are you talking about? What does time travel have to do with anything?" It's the longest collection of words I've ever heard him speak, but not a lick of it makes any sense. He only shakes his head, and walks back into his car. He's gone in the blink of an eye. The last link to the Velvet Apartments. Gone. Leaving me with too many questions without any answers. There are some things I'll never know.

The train station is empty except for two transit officers, a sobbing pregnant woman, and a man who appeared to be sleeping in a hoodie. I sit next to the pregnant woman on a bench, but she doesn't turn to look at me. Her sobs are small hiccups, and she's hiding her face with her hands. I tap her shoulder as lightly as I can and offer her a tissue.

She looks surprised at first, but then flashes me a smile and blows her nose, sniffling into the tissue. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." I don't add anything else. While I want to know why she's crying, I also don't feel comfortable asking.

"You're a nice boy." Her eyes drift to my suitcase, her tears slowly drying. "Are you going on vacation?"

I wonder for a minute how I can explain my situation and find nothing that makes even the barest of sense. Instead, I shrug. "Something like that. Are you heading somewhere?"

"No. This is my stop. I'm just waiting for someone to pick me up..." She smiles again and her tears are mostly gone now. She's in her mid thirties to early forties but she's pretty. Her long purple hair is made into an elegant braid. Despite her chaotic appearance, she seemed regal, like someone who was accustomed to the limelight.

"I see...Do you live around here?"

"Oh yes. Many years ago I lived in the Velvet Apartments, but I moved away after an incident. It's very bittersweet being back."

The coincidence puts me on edge. Surely, there were more places to live in this town than that apartment, so what were the chances that the person I see while I'm leaving is headed back into that place? "Bittersweet?"

"I've always loved it there. Igor and the entire family are very sweet, but I didn't think I'd be coming back under these circumstances."

"What-"

 _"Here is Lady Eriko! Here I am! Come, let us go home!"_ A tall woman cuts me off, singing her sentences with an unidentifiable melody. The woman I'm talking to, Eriko, turns to look at the newcomer and her face immediately lights up with recognition. "Belladonna!" Eriko turns back to me, patting me gently on the shoulder. "My escort is here. Thank you for the tissues, and listening to an old woman's woes."

She bounds off after the singing woman, Belladonna, with one hand lifting her bulging belly.

I watch them leave without much thought. I'd never seen either of them before at the apartment but it had been a big place. She probably lived on another floor. My train arrives shortly after. The man in the hood wakes up just in time to follow me into the second cart. The doors slide shut as he runs onto the empty train.

The rumbling is familiar, and it almost eases a bit of my wariness. I was leaving, going back into the city that I knew. Sure, I would be alone, and would need to find a job, but I would be safe. Away from Ryoji. Away from the secrets in the Velvet Apartments. Away from the madness. That's what mattered.

My eyes are closed. That's why it takes me several minutes before I realize the man with the hood is standing directly in front of me. I give him a once over, but I can't see his face. My hands fiddle with the sheathed knives in my pocket. "Excuse me, can I help you with something?"

"It was supposed to be her. She already looked depressed. It would've been okay, but I'll take you. You're running away from the Velvet Apartments right?"

My voice hitches in my throat. What was supposed to be _"How do you know that?"_ ends up sounding like a squeak from a dying animal.

"I'm sorry." The flash is quick. I see a glint of steel and barely any movement as a knife slides across my throat. There is no pain. The only thing I feel is the sting of air against something that shouldn't be there. A hole has opened up right below my Adam's apple and the insides are exposed to something new, and strange. Blood gushes out, staining my clothes, the suitcase, the floor. Blood. My blood...? My hand reaches for my throat to try and stem the bleeding. It flows between my fingers, spilling down to my wrist.

"I'm sorry, Akira. I really am, but this was the price I paid." He pulls my jacket, and lays me face up on the floor of the train. The rumbling is constant, but with each jolt, I can feel an extra stream of blood join the growing pool around me.

I want to talk to him. I want to ask him so many questions. _"Who are you?" , "Why me?" , "What the hell are you?"_ All of those questions are answered with his next sentence.

"I'm just so hungry..."

His knife stabs into my stomach and rips a new hole into my body. The man reaches into the gaping wound and pulls out my small intestines, sniffing it deeply under his hood. I can hear a soft moan escape from the back of his throat. There's a surgical mask on his face but the eyes are familiar. Red and glowing. The eyes of a demon. I know them. **_I know him_**. He follows me in my dreams. The man who killed my Uncle Sojiro in the insanity that is my mind.

So he caught up to me after all. It didn't matter that I tried to leave. It didn't matter that Ryoji had warned me. None of it mattered.

I can't feel my limbs. I can't feel anything anymore. My life is over.

My eyes don't work anymore but my thoughts flow freely. Would things have been different if I stayed at the apartment? Would he have killed that pregnant woman, Eriko, instead? If I'd asked Kanji or Minato or any of the people on the third floor for advice would I still be alive? If I'd been a little more brave, a little more cautious, a little more friendly to the others, would I have learned something that could have saved me? It was too late for any of these thoughts.

Too late.

Too late.

Too late.

Too late.

Too late.

Too late.

Too late.

Too late.

Much too late.

I was dead.

* * *

 **You have reached the first ending. To progress any further requires Motivation x5, Bravery x4, and bonds of friendship x4 with the names of his chosen companions. Thank you for following Akira's journey through the Velvet Apartments.**


	4. Surviving a Secret (1)

**Requirement met. Sacrifice collected. Time Rewind now commencing...**

* * *

I'm standing but I don't know when I stood up. Shinjiro is staring at Ken with nothing but disbelief. All of this is news to him, but why? Weren't they close friends who had lived together? All of them with the exception of Ken looked like they were roughly the same age. How could Shinjiro alone, not know that something like a kamikaze went off in his own school?

Ryuji's eyes are on me, filled to the brim with apprehension. He looks like he wants to say something but he is as speechless as Shinjiro. I ignore them both. Only one person matters now. There's still a piece of the puzzle missing.

"Ryoji...What happened to Ryoji..." My lips are dry, my words barely more than a whisper. The rest of the dining room is loud, full of conversation. Laughter. Mirth. All of it drowns me, leaving me to suffocate while I wait for Ken to give me an answer I can already see coming. I knew. All the signs were there. There was only ever one answer.

"He's dead." Dead. Ryoji is dead. A dead man. How does a dead man who has been blown to bits and pieces come back to life to haunt me? Why would he even bother? Who the hell was I that so many demons would want to follow me around?

I stumble back, knocking into one of the legs of my chair. It rocks twice but remains standing. The walk out of the dining room afterwards is instantaneous. One minute I'm standing by the table and in the next my foot has stepped outside of the room. There is no memory of the time in-between. Far away, Ryuji is shouting after me. Shinjiro is yelling something at Ken but I don't hear either of them. None of their words reach me. None of them follow.

The hallway is empty with the exception of a few people I don't know. By myself, all my reflexes kick in and I run to my room. Fear pushes me to go faster. My room will be safe. Everything will be normal as long as I can reach it. I can hide on my bed. Under the covers. Any of it could stabilize me. All of it together will chase away the ghosts, the demons, and the madness.

 _I'm not crazy!_

 _I'M NOT CRAZY._

 _I'm NoT cRazY._

 _I'm not! I'm not!_

Everything in my room is exactly how I left it. My bed is perfectly made. My houseplants look green and healthy, though one of them seems to be yellowing at the edges. I crawl into bed, not even bothering to change into pajamas. I'm disgusting. I haven't showered and I'm crawling into bed after riding a bike all around town.

The normalcy of my thoughts calm me down to reasonable levels. My covers envelope me like a protective shield as I list the facts I can be sure of. I met Akihiko and Nagato in the morning. (Had that really been this morning?) I went on a bike ride to the school. Haru and I overheard a conversation we shouldn't have. I had dinner with Shinjiro, Ken, and Ryuji. Nothing else happened. Nothing. I didn't see Ryoji on the third floor. That had been a hallucination. Same with meeting him at the bar. That never happened either.

Just like I didn't watch Uncle Sojiro die, or get slashed in the middle of the street and bleed to death. None of those things happened.

I'm staring at the wall when I hear a knock. It could be a few seconds or even a few hours later, but I'll never know. Time has no meaning to a madman. I don't move from my spot on the bed.

"Who is it?" My voice sounds weird and high-pitched. The voice of a pig whose just learned the first syllables of a human language.

"It's Lavenza. Can I come in?" Her voice is soft and polite, like a housekeeper or a consoling mother. If I didn't know any better I would have thought she was in her late twenties and consoling her heartbroken little brother.

"Yeah. Go ahead."

Her large set of keys jingle as she selects the right one. I can picture the ring in my head, huge inside of her small hands. The door opens slowly, as if she's scared of what she might find on the other side. When she sees that everything looks relatively normal, her expression and stance relaxes. There is no curiosity for my belongings or the decorations around the room. She's clearly been in here before. All of her attention is focused on my pitiful figure. "Are you alright?"

I want to lie. I want to say 'Yes, I'm fine. Thank you for worrying about me' but the words don't come. There's something so utterly pathetic about having a small child care for me, that I can't seem to bring myself to even pretend to be brave. "I'm scared."

She grabs my chair so she can sit across from me. Her feet barely touch the floor. "What are you scared of?"

There are so many things that it's hard to begin, but once the first word comes, the rest follow: "Everything. I'm scared of what I've seen and what I haven't. It always feels like I'm walking on a thin layer of ice that can break at any second. I keep thinking to myself 'What should I say?' 'What should I do?' How do I look normal? What makes sense? And then I realize, nothing makes sense. I'm scared that everything I know is a lie. I'm scared coming here was a mistake. Lavenza, I'm scared... that I'm just as crazy as everyone says I am."

Lavenza is quiet for a moment, as if pondering my questions, or even reading my mind, but when she speaks, I'm again reminded of how mature she is for her age. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

I smile despite the growing anxiety in my chest. The question was bittersweet. She is kind, but she couldn't help me. No one could. "I don't know... I never know anything."

"When I don't know what to do, I always ask my Mama or Grandpa Igor." She smiles sadly. "Why don't you ask someone for help?"

"I don't have anyone to ask. There's no one who cares about me."

"That's stupid. Plenty of people are worried about you. I've had lots of people ask about you since you've moved here."

Her simple words surprise me. People asked about me? Why? I wasn't interesting, and I certainly didn't do anything to warrant any kind of attention. "Like who?"

"Ryuji was worried about you after dinner. Ken and Shinjiro too. Kanji wants to say sorry but he's been too afraid to open his stupid mouth. He's a big baby." She wrinkles her nose and the reaction is so amusing to me, I actually start to laugh.

"Who else?"

"Nagato told me you seem like a nice boy and Akihiko said the same thing. He says you have po...potential. Yeah. Yusuke, Yosuke, Rise, and Teddie asked me about you too. They all said you seemed nice.

I laugh again. I wasn't nice, not compared to her. Lavenza was the type of person who had a calming effect on people without really trying. Maybe it was her innocence, or maybe it was her sincerity, but she was like a scented candle. Subtle and soothing.

Smiling, I take her small hands in mine. She couldn't protect me, and she had no answers for me, but she was here. She was real, and she was trying to help. For tonight, that would be enough. "Thanks. For talking to me. I feel a little better now."

She blushes, pulling her hands out of mine. "I'm going to go now. They're going to need my help with clean-up. You should say sorry to Ryuji later. He looked very sad after you left."

Her movements are careful and precise when she puts away my chair and closes my door. There is barely any sound now, and I can almost imagine that she is only an apparition created to appease my diseased mine. Perhaps her aura had a lingering effect, but in that moment, I just didn't care.

I decide to shower after all, and that calms me even more. By the time my nightly routine is complete, I'm sleepy, almost comfortable. My covers feel like a cloud, and I'm surrounded by its soft protection. The smell of my plants are mesmerizing, like incense. A dull sense of security envelopes me. In mere moments, I'm asleep. The dreams come immediately.

* * *

 _The rumbling of the train feels almost like a song, soothing in its familiarity, but the scene in front of me is one of horror._

 _"I'm sorry." The flash is quick. I see a glint of steel and barely any movement as a knife slides across my throat. The only thing I feel is the sting of air against something that shouldn't be there. A hole has opened up right below my Adam's apple and the insides are exposed to something new and unfamiliar. My hand reaches for my throat to protect it from this strange assailant. There's something flowing between my fingers, down to my wrist. It's hot, almost burning against my frozen hands._

 _"I'm sorry, Akira. I really am, but this was the price I paid." A man pulls me by the front of my jacket. I don't have the energy to push him away, and fall onto the floor of the train. He turns me over. I'm lying in a pool of Red. There's so much red. It covers my clothes, the floor, even my attacker._

 _"I'm just so hungry..."_

 _His knife stabs into my stomach and rips a new hole into my body. The man reaches into the gaping wound and pulls out my small intestines, sniffing it deeply under his hood. There is a black shadow where his face should be. Teeth like daggers smile at me in a terrifying grin but the eyes are worse. They're red, glowing orbs that seem to move out of his face to peer into my soul. The eyes of a demon._

* * *

I bolt up in my bed. The room is dark, but I am safe. Alive. And perfectly alone. My hand is wrapped around my throat. It's almost painful, and I quickly release myself.

That was a new dream. The others were more frequent, even familiar by now. This was something else all together. Did the stress create a new horror for me? Like a machine who had grown sick of producing the same nightmares night after night. I shake my head to clear away the thought. If it did, my imagination was clearly getting better while my mental health was getting worse.

My clock glows in the dark. 6:40AM. I groan in misery. It's too early to be awake. Too early for anything productive really, but I make myself get out of bed. There's no going back to sleep after one of my nightmares. Trust me, I've tried. The hallway outside is quiet but well lit. Automatic wall lights illuminate my unfamiliar path. The bathroom is predictably empty.

I study my reflection as I brush my teeth. There are deep rings around my eyes but my glasses do well to hide them. Acne lines a corner of my forehead. Probably from the stress. My thick waves obscure most of it.

When I deem myself presentable, I start heading downstairs. A strange sight greets me on the third floor common room. Souji, and the twins are glued to the screen of their TV. Curious, I walk up behind them to take a peek. The headline makes my blood run cold: **FAMOUS VOICE ACTOR ERIKO KIRISHIMA FOUND DISEMBOWELED ON OEDO LINE. FETUS NOWHERE TO BE FOUND.**

A long haired woman is standing in front of the train, a microphone in her hand. The scene behind her is swarmed with people taking pictures, but beneath the wave I can see something else. Policeman, holding off the growing crowd. Many of them, with pale horror-struck, empty faces. As if they're not sure where they are or what exactly it is that they're saying.

 _" **...the body on the train at approximately 5am this morning when the train was being prepped for the morning run. This marks the 12th identified victim of the community-dubbed serial killer "Butcher" over the last three years. Police have no leads."**_

Naoto and Akihiko have just reached the top of the stairs when Mina runs over to grab Akihiko by the shoulders. "Is it true?! Tell me!"

Akihiko looks visibly flustered, his eyes darting to the stairs, and then to the younger woman beside him. Naoto steps between them, taking control of the situation. "Mina, sit down."

"So it's true..." The redhead takes two steps back before looking like she's about to collapse. Akihiko reaches out stop her but Minato moves faster than I think possible, catching his sister by the arms. "I'll take her to her room." Akihiko looks like he wants to protest but Minato has already started dragging his sister away. The two of them disappear into the last door on the left.

"Have you seen the body?" Souji's deep voice appears almost calm, but it shakes on the last word. Naoto nods, almost imperceptibly.

"Are you going to tell Igor?" Souji continues.

"He already knows. Belladonna is crying her eyes out downstairs. She heard it on the radio this morning." Naoto's voice grows darker with every word. I don't understand. This woman's death is a tragedy, but everyone is reacting to it much too personally. Had they known her? The picture they showed on the screen looked familiar but most famous actors and actresses did. There had to be more. I back away into the shadows of the hallway as quietly as I can. No one notices me leave.

The doors on this floor are like ours. Each one is different, reflective of a house of horrors. I find Mina's door at the end of the hall. On the surface, it looks like a mirror, but the glass reflects nothing except the opposing door behind me: Room 300, a stone slab like that of a grave. Even the humorous writing halfway down resembles the feeling of an epitaph.

 **Here Sleeps Minato Arisato**

 **Please Knock Before Entering**

 **He Is Commonly Sleeping From 0001 Hours to 2359**

Their voices float to me easily and I catch the tail end of Minato's sentence. "...wasn't you?"

Minako's voice is angry when she answers. "No..."

There's a pause here, and it seems to be one of many. Even through the door, I can sense their tension.

"Are you going to go back?"

There's another pause before I hear Mina's voice again. "No."

"That's good. I'm proud of you. Seven years ago, you definitely would have."

"Don't lecture me. We were both idiots back then." I can hear her sigh and then everything is quiet. I look over at the group in the common room and they are still having a conversation, their backs to me so they can watch the news program. I press my ear back to the door and am immediately taken aback by the next two words. "...was Akira?"

My pulse speeds up, pushing blood into my ears. They were talking about me? Why? There was absolutely nothing interesting about me. There's a pause, and I can imagine Minato moving behind the door. His monotone voice drifts to me easily. "I don't know. He sounded confused when I told him about changing the past. He's an odd guy though. Over dinner he asked Junpei, Shinji, and Ken about Mochizuki."

"Ma-kun?!" Her voice is shrill, and I can hear a chair being moved. "What happened?!"

"Before the time jump, we ganged up on him and questioned him. Apparently he talked to a man at the bar who threatened him. Said his name was Ryoji. Acted really strange."

"I didn't see them at the bar yesterday. Do you remember seeing him talk to anyone? Maybe someone's playing a prank on him."

"I showed the kid my face. He confirmed it." They two of them are silent again, and I can't begin to imagine what's happening on the other side of the door. What was Minato talking about? None of those things happened. They didn't gang up on me or ask me any questions at all. I'd spent the majority of yesterday evening alone in my room.

But despite these thoughts, another memory is pushing at the back of my mind. I'm standing by the stairs and looking into Ryoji, no, Minato's face and the two are nearly identical. Smooth and pale, almost like that of a porcelain doll except for one monstrous feature. A scar disfigures Minato, destroying his eye and the entire left side of his face. A shiver runs down my spine and I immediately flinch back. I've heard enough.

The others don't notice me when I walk past them to the stairs. Akihiko looks exhausted and Naoto doesn't seem much better. Even the infallible Souji looks troubled.

The dinning room is half empty. A majority of the people are unfamiliar and familiar at the same time. I know I've seen them but I don't know their names or where I might have met them. A tall woman is sobbing loudly into Igor's lap, using her long sparkly dress to wipe at her eyes. A young man is petting her silver hair slowly in a fruitless attempt to quiet her.

"Shh...It'll be alright Belladonna..."

 _"She shouldn't have been alone! I should have been with her. Listen to me."_ Her screams sound weird, and for a whole minute, I'm not sure why. But then it dawns on me that the sobbing woman is singing a high-pitched ballad, drenched entirely in misery. A sonnet for the dead.

The rest of the room is acting equally as somber. Many of the women are crying into their breakfast while the men I see are quiet. There isn't any of the usual conversation or laughter that I'd gotten used to.

There's a tap on my shoulder, and it's so unexpected I almost slap the person who touched me. My hand stops an inch from his shoulder. "Woah! Cool it man!"

Kanji is standing behind me with two plates in his hands. They're identical: filled with eggs, bacon, toast, and mashed potatoes. "Want to have some breakfast with me?"

The invitation is unexpected, but welcome. Kanji didn't look like the nicest guy in the apartment but anything was better than the misery that choked the dinning room. My conversation with Lavenza the night before also did wonders for my impression of him. I take one of the plates from his hand and follow him up a stairway onto the second floor common room.

He takes an armchair so I can get the couch to myself. The room is quiet except for the clanking of my fork against my plate. There isn't any real tension, but Kanji is watching me, his plate untouched. I place my plate on the coffee table and emulate his posture, placing my elbows on my knees and leaning forward slightly. "Is there something you want to talk about?"

He sighs and slaps his huge hands against his face twice. "I wanted to apologize for scaring you on your first day. I'm normally a pretty nice guy."

I nod. There isn't any reason to, but I believe him. In the corner of my mind I can imagine him with knitting needles and blushing a furious red. I fight the urge to shiver. "It's okay. This is nice of you. Honestly, the atmosphere in there was scaring me."

Kanji nods furiously in agreement, finally starting on the eggs on his plate. "Yeah. I didn't know her all that well, but she was friends with a lot of the girls."

"Who?"

"Eriko Kirishima... She would visit every couple months. Her room is... was on the first floor. Bella is probably going to be the one to clean it out. I feel for her." Kanji sighs, stuffing a piece of bacon into his mouth. "I hear they've known each other longer than we've been alive."

I don't say much else, but Kanji has lots to tell me. Maybe because we're alone or because I've forgiven him, but he's very friendly now, telling me about all the people he knows around the apartment, even the ones who no longer lived there. I listen to him talk long after I've finished my breakfast, taking mental notes of everyone that he mentions. I'd write this all down later and cross-reference it with what I'd seen.

The sun is high in the sky by the time Kanji decides to take our dirty plates to the kitchen and I decide to return to my room.

After the visions started my second psychiatrist asked me to keep a diary. I didn't do a good job at first, but the dreams got worse, and my memory started acting strange. After that I could fill an entire book in less than a month.

I arrived at the Velvet Apartments. Igor is ugly. Lavenza sees him. She is kind. Kanji is soft-hearted. He sees her. All three are real. Mina and Minato are twins. Mina is pretty. Minato is strange. Hair covers his face. There's a scar underneath his eye. I don't know if they're real. Ryoji is dangerous. He is dead. He is not real. He died in an explosion on Port Island which no longer exists. It was never on the news. Might be real. Akihiko and Makoto are half-sibilngs? They fight sometimes. Probably real. A woman from the Velvet Apartments is dead. Real. Very, very real.

Line after line, page after page, I write down everything that I can remember, separating the facts and delusions I could be sure of from everything in between. When I was finally done, I'd written over 5 pages. Most of it was ambiguous but that was normal. Just normal. There was never a day in my life when I was sure about everything. I'm going over my notes for the second time when the wall phone rings.

 _*brrrrng*_

My instincts tells me this is strange. No one should have any reason to call me. I pick up the receiver anyway, "...Hello?"

At first, all I can hear is static on the other end, like a bad cable connection on a rainy day. When I finally hear a voice it is gravelly, and deep. "Hello Akira Kurusu."

"...Yes?"

"My name is Navi. I trade in secrets. If there's something you want to know, I can help. For a small price."

As ominous as it sounded, I was tempted to jump on the offer. There were too many things I wanted to know, and asking rarely ever got me any results. "Anything? I can ask you anything and you'll be able to tell me. Can you prove it?"

There's a low, amused chuckle on the other end but when the voice speaks again, there's a deadly edge to his words. "I know the secrets of everyone in this apartment. Including yours. Akira Kurusu. 17 years old. You were born in May. Your childhood was a good one. The only child of unlikely parents Jun Kurosu and Yukino Mayuzumi. They once lived in the Velvet Apartments, Room 210 and 203 respectively. They loved you desperately, and trained you in anything and everything. There was nothing you weren't good at. Hand-to-hand combat, swimming, running, schoolwork. However, where you really shined was gymnastics.

"When you turned 10, you kept telling your parents you had a funny feeling in your chest. No matter how many times they took you to a doctor, they couldn't find a problem. You were healthy as a horse. The problem disappears but two years later it comes right back with a vengeance. They think you have a stroke, heart disease. They find the best doctors to heal you and fail. There is no problem. Either you are lying or the disease is in your mind.

"You drop out of your clubs. Your grades fall to ashes. You confess to the love of your life and when she says no, you finally break. The light that has been shining on you your entire life is finally snuffed out. There is nothing your parents can do but watch as their one and only son -"

"SHUT UP!" I slam the phone into the receiver, missing the cup by a few inches. No. He couldn't know. Whoever was on that phone couldn't know all those things about me. Goosebumps cover my arm and it takes all of my willpower to stop myself from scratching at the scars on my body. How? How did he know...? I'd left everything behind. My dad even changed my name to hide my identity. There was no way, no way he could know.

His voice is laughing so loudly that I can hear him without putting the receiver to my ear. "Is that enough proof for you Akira Kurusu? Or should I say Akira Kurosu? I guess it doesn't matter. Should you ever need to know something, give me call. My number is 509. I'll be waiting." The line goes dead.

 _*beep*_

 _*beep*_

 _*beep*_

* * *

 **You have now unlocked Navi's Secret. At the end of every chapter you will now have the opportunity to trade secrets with Navi in addition to a normal flag. To get a secret from Navi you must be prepared to share equally as valuable information. Steal secrets from the other members of the apartment to trade with Navi.**

 **[Flag] Do you confront the twins for what you overheard [Bravery x5], find secrets to trade with Navi [Bravery x2, Bonds of friendship x2], or pretend you heard nothing [default]?**

 **[Navi's Secret] Does Akira make a trade with Navi? Up for sale: The truth of what happened on Port Island [Required: One secret from Souji Seta]**


	5. Falling in Place (1)

**You have paused the adventure. You have selected the status menu. Would you like to turn on permanence for this feature? [Yes] [No]**

 **Name: {Akira Kurusu} Time Rewinds: {Unknown} Endings reached: {1/3} Current Status: All stats are out of 10**

 **Bravery (The number of players who are willing to break the rules of ffnet. Resets to zero after ever chapter): 2**

 **Motivation (Number of comments. Resets after every chapter): 4**

 **Knowledge** **(Permanent stat. Grows through studying. Decreases through story events): 7**

 **Strength (Permanent stat. Grows through training. Decreases through story events): 2**

 **Agility (** **Permanent stat. Grows through training.** **Decreases through story events** **): 4**

 **Durability** **(** **Permanent stat. Grows through training.** **Decreases through story events** **): 5**

 **Bonds of Friendship: (Encounter Rate rises with comments, decreases after meeting): Ryuji 3 (ER: 85%), Ryoji 2 (ER:72%) Yusuke 1 (ER:45%)**

 **Reputation (Permanent stat. Grows through Bonds of Friendship. Decreases through story events): 5**

 **Requirement Met. Second Route Selected. Sequence commencing...**

* * *

His voice is laughing so loudly that I can hear him without putting the receiver to my ear. "Is that enough proof for you Akira Kurusu? Or should I say Akira Kurosu? I guess it doesn't matter. Should you ever need to know something, give me call. My number is 509. I'll be waiting." The line goes dead.

 _*beep*_

 _*beep*_

 _*beep*_

I cover my ears with the sleeves of my shirt. The sound is loud. Obnoxious. It is the only thing I hear and it grinds into my bones like a drill, breaking every ability I have to think.

On the sixth beep, I can no longer take the ringing in my ears and I throw the receiver at the wall. It breaks with an audible crack. Chips of white paint fall to the floor in a cloud of dust.

A bang sounds at my door, and Ryuji's voice sounds muffled through the wood. "Hey man, are you okay?! Open up!"

I look around my mess of a room. The pieces of my phone lie underneath a sizable dent in the wall where it met its end. A part of me knows his timing is too coincidental. Too perfect. There's no way he was just standing outside or happened to be walking by. What had he been doing? I open the door to talk to him. "Ryuji... Why are you here?"

He rubs the back of his neck, the picture of discomfort. The sight of it is so normal that it's almost calming. I trusted him without wanting to. He was just too stupid, too simple. "I felt kinda awkward after what happened last night. And everyone's been mopey all day so I was kinda worried you were too. I was waiting outside your door for a couple minutes wondering what I should say when I heard something break. What the hell happened to your phone?"

"I..." How well did I really know him? How much could I trust him? Was he Navi? Was it possible for someone to have a phone number that didn't correspond to their room number. I could always ask him. "Nothing. I was in a bad mood and took it out on the phone."

He watches me for a minute, then his eyes skirt to the chair on my floor, then back to me. All of a sudden, he throws his fist into the palm of his right hand, as if preparing for a fight. "Listen. I get it. You're trying to be manly, but moping by yourself isn't the way to go. We're friends. If you want to cry or whatever, go ahead. I won't judge."

I'm so flabbergasted by the turn of events that its left me speechless. Why would he jump from wanting to be manly to wanting to cry? Where was the route between the two? I can only stare at him, wide-eyed and confused.

"But crying won't help guys like us. It's better if we get moving. Work out. Sweat some. Let's go take a bike ride. You can borrow Yusuke's. I stole a copy of his key when he wasn't looking."

Before I can even contemplate what's happening, he's dragged me by the arm down the stairs and out the door. He puts me onto a sleek silver bike next to his black one that I rode yesterday. Yesterday? Had it only been yesterday when I rode around the city with Haru? That lazy afternoon felt like a lifetime ago.

This ride with Ryuji is different. It seems like he's pedaling as hard as he can. It takes everything in me to keep up. My lungs burn in an effort to make me slow down. Cars honk and swerve to avoid hitting us, putting poor pedestrians in danger. Several times I hear people swear in our direction. After what feels like hours, we finally stop in front of a Big Bang Burger. Ryuji is breathing almost as hard as me, a pink flush lighting up his cheeks. "How do you feel?"

"Good. Great, actually." And despite the asphyxiation, it's true. I did feel great. For the first time in almost a year, I could feel the blood pumping in my veins, working me harder than I've felt in a long time. I'd given up school sports, but I'd been in relatively good shape once. I'd felt this exhilaration before. "I haven't done something like that in a long time."

"Yeah? It's a good way to get all the stress out. C'mon, let's grab a burger. Chie will give us a discount."

The name of his friend sounds vaguely familiar but I don't remember where I've heard it. He locks the bikes in place against a railing on the street and I follow him into the familiar fast food chain. There are a thousand stores like it scattered across Japan. It was impossible to go 4 blocks without seeing one.

Ryuji's head darts around like a typical shady delinquent until it lands on one of the cashier girls. "Yo! Chie!"

The girl visibly groans before pasting a fake smile back on her face. We take our place in line. With each passing customer, we get closer to the front, and the red of Chie's face deepens. Finally, when it's our turn, the only thing on her face is a scowl.

"C'mon. Don't be like that. Are you still mad about the last session? I didn't have a choice. My leg was hurting." His hands are clapped together in apology but even I can tell he isn't being genuine.

"Shut up. Just tell me your order before I kick you out of here." Chie hisses. People are grumbling behind us. A few snicker in our direction.

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry. Give us two medium bang burgers and a large fries. I'll take a coke too. For here."

The girl puts in the order and hisses us along. Ryuji grins over his shoulder. "She gave me the discount anyway. Isn't she great? Do you mind eating slowly so we can wait for her to get off work. It's only another hour."

I shake my head, following him to another station to get our food. "Who is she? Does she live at the apartment?"

We find a booth off to the side and sit down. Ryuji offers me one of the burgers before unwrapping his own. He is still facing Chie, and waves to let her know where we are. She makes a fist in our direction but quickly returns her attention to the line. "Chie lives on the fourth floor. She's pretty cool. We used to train together on the weekends."

I grab one of his fries, catching the insinuation in his words. "Used to...?"

When he looks over at me, there's an inquisitive look in his eye, like someone whose noticed someone familiar he didn't see before. "I...used to be a runner. Cross country track. Had some trouble at school. Messed up my leg really badly. I haven't really been doing any training since, and I don't really have the guts to tell Chie."

"Why not?"

He sighs, and all of a sudden he looks a little older. A little wiser. "Honestly? When I first moved here, I didn't really know anyone. I saw Chie and Akihiko training one afternoon in front of the building. Just running and practicing a little hand-to-hand. It was cool, you know. They took me under their wing. They're the only reason I even talk to anyone now. I don't want to disappoint them. If Chie knew I was crippled, I don't know what she'd say."

I nod in understanding. When I'd given up gymnastics, I'd been too afraid to tell my parents. They weren't mad but the disappointment on their faces destroyed me. Even after everything calmed down, it took months before I could look them in the eye again. "You can't hide it from her forever. Have you told anyone? Been to a doctor?"

He shakes his head, shoving more fries into his mouth. "I've seen a doctor. But the girl was a quack. I can do most things fine, but she said if I injure it again, it will never heal. I'll be in a wheelchair for the rest of my life. You're the first person I've talked to about this. Maybe it's because you're the new guy, but I feel like I can tell you anything, you know?" He laughs, but then abruptly starts choking. I slap him on the back as hard as I can.

 _*hack* *wheeze*_

It takes him a minute to regain his breath. "Thanks. I'm okay, but promise me you won't tell anyone. I'll talk to them about it at some point. Just need some time to figure out what I'm going to say."

I nod again, a silent promise. The next half hour goes by quickly. Ryuji does most of the talking, and most of it is about Shujin Academy. Apparently, he was an outcast at school. There was a girl in his class who he'd been friends with when they were younger, but she'd grown out of their friendship. "After she got her precious boyfriend, she forgot all about me."

"Are you jealous?"

"Nah. Just mad. We've known each other for years. I was only the reason she even got an apartment here, but I haven't seen her once after she moved in. Rarely ever comes home, and never picks up the phone."

"Weird..." I mutter. "What's her room number?"

"506, I think? Whatever man, forget about her. Stupid girls. Have you met any that you like?"

I think again about Mina and the strange vision I'd seen. I wasn't interested in her, at least not in the same way Akihiko clearly was, but I just couldn't shake off the feelings my vision gave me. It was almost like in that moment, I'd been in love with her for years. "No. Not really. I haven't talked to anyone enough yet."

He nods sagely. "True. You've only been here a couple days. If you ever need-" A shadow falls over the table, and the two of us look up simultaneously to see that Chie is standing like an officer, staring us down. Judging by her expression, the two of us were clearly not in her favor.

"Let's go. Yukiko is waiting outside." Ryuji and I smile sheepishly, following her out of the restaurant. A pretty girl greets us with a smile. Her eyes are a bit red and puffy, and I remember I'd seen her that morning when she was crying at the breakfast table.

"Hi Chie, and why are all of- Akira?!" Her eyes grow wide, staring at my face. "What are you doing here?!"

Chie and Ryuji's eyes dart between us, clearly as confused as I felt. Did I know her? Besides the instance this morning when I'd seen her at breakfast, she seemed like an utter stranger.

"I'm...sorry. But have we met?"

"You don't remember me...?" Her hand reaches for my face, and I instinctively step back.

She recoils as if she'd been stung. The hurt on her face is almost palpable. Our silence stretches as I scan her face for any familiarity at all. I scrutinize everything. The shape of her well-defined nose, and the thinness in her mouth. Her long black hair, shielding her like a veil. No feature is missed. Everything about her is beautiful yet unfamiliar. Who was she? When had I ever seen her?

Chie steps between us, shielding the girl with her back. "Have you ever been to Inaba?"

"I..." I search my memory for the name. I've been to hundreds of cities and villages. My parents were big advocates of travel. My dad for business and my mom for leisure. There was one year in particular that we spent completely away from home. "I don't remember. Maybe. What's it like? Anything special?"

Chie seems to contemplate this for a minute before rattling a couple things that could apply to any number of small villages in Japan. I shake my head in response. This was getting us nowhere. The beautiful girl steps around Chie to stand in front of me.

"It's okay. Let's go. I borrowed Kanji's car." We walk for a few minutes in silence. Several times Yukiko looks like she wants to talk to me, but every time Chie steps between our field of vision. When we reach the car, Ryuji stuffs our bikes into the trunk, and mentions a shop at the edge of town. "You should get your own. Makes your life easier."

I nod again, not really paying attention. The more I try to remember Yukiko, the more I realize that there are huge blanks in my memory. What had I done in 4th grade? I remember feeling strange. That was when the visions started, but my visions and the things I did that year are a complete mystery. I have no memory of them. It's the same two years later when I finished my first year of middle school. I know the visions became worse then, and I know my parents took me to several doctors that summer, but I have no memory of those visits, their names, or anything in between. What happened? Why couldn't I remember anything? It wasn't that long ago.

"Akira!"

I jump in my seat. Chie, Ryuji, and Yukiko are standing outside the car, staring at me with worry. Ryuji offers me a hand to pull me out. "Are you okay? We're back."

I take a few seconds to do a 360. We're sitting in front of the Velvet Apartments.

"You're really pale." Chie has her hands on her hips and she's staring me down despite being several inches shorter than me. "You should come train with me and Akihiko tomorrow. Drag Ryuji with you too since he's been avoiding our sessions."

Ryuji starts to protest, but Chie shoots him down quickly. He'll be there tomorrow whether he likes it or not. The four of us part ways on the stairs, the girls going to the fourth floor and us to the fifth. I promise Ryuji to get him for dinner later.

When I enter my room, I immediately know someone came by to clean up. The wall phone has been repaired and the cracks I made in the drywall are gone. A card is sitting on my desk. There are a few lines scribbled on it, but they're unintelligible. Characters I've never seen before.

I take out my notebook and record the day's events. When the pen touches the page, my vision flashes and I'm no longer in my room.

People are disappearing from the village and when they appear again, they are dead. A serial killer? Others are falling asleep and failing to wake up. An epidemic? Death. Uncontrollable death. Whispers behind the fog. Nothing is certain. My parents hear bits and pieces. Mom wants to investigate. Dad just wants to leave. Yukiko's face appears in my mind's eye. She's taller than me, and hugging me as she cries. Someone she loves is dead.

I blink again, and the images disappear. I've written down everything: Notes, visions, and the days events. Not a single letter is legible. Notebook 287 is full. It goes into the box next to the one before it. They're multi-colored: Gray, Brown, Pink, Blue, Orange, Yellow, and Red, repeated over and over again in case I lose one. Most of them are sitting on several shelves in my room at home back in Tokyo. When this box is full, it'll be sent back to join the set.

"Isn't it about time you headed home?" The sound of his voice causes me to jump out of my chair, knocking it to the ground. Ryoji is sitting on my bed, dressed as he always is, in a button-up and a scarf.

My mouth opens and closes wordlessly. What did he want? He wasn't real, so what was he? A ghost? A hallucination? "Wh-What are you doing here? How'd you even get in?"

He smiles resting his chin on his knuckles, his elbow on his knees. "I walked through the door. It wasn't locked. Besides, isn't that what ghosts do?"

 _Ghosts aren't real._ That's what I wanted to say, but the words wouldn't come. Why couldn't they be real? I saw a cannibal kill my uncle, but he didn't die. The cannibal probably didn't even exist. How scary was a ghost in the context of things? If he was just a ghost, then it wasn't that bad at all. "What do you want?"

"I want to help you, and in return, I want you to help me." His smile is sympathetic, like that of the fairy godmother telling Cinderella she can go the ball.

"I can't help you. I'm...not really in the best place right now."

"But you are. As the new guy you haven't really developed any deep bonds yet, so you probably won't mind destroying some people to get your way."

"No! Leave me alone!" My voice sounds desperate, almost whiny.

"I didn't blow up Gekkoukan High. Clear my name. The twins will help you get to the truth. If you help me, I'll help you with your cannibal. He real, he's hunting you, and once he finds the chance to kill you, he will. I can help you stop him. Help me, help you." He reaches out his hand for me to shake.

I contemplate this for a minute. A ghost or a hallucination, all of my actions in the future would depend on this one choice. If he was telling the truth, I would be doing a good deed and helping myself, but at what cost? Who would I be destroying in his quest for the truth? "What do you want me to do...?"

"First step, call Navi. Take him up on his deal. Find out what he knows about the incident on Port Island. We'll take it one step at a time from there."

I take his hand, which is surprisingly warm and solid. Not at all what I expected of the devil. "Deal."

We shake once and he sits back down on my bed. It creaks under his weight. "Good. Now that we're friends. Let's get to work. We have another deal to make."

The phone rings twice before the familiar gravelly voice answers. "Navi speaking."

"It's Akira. I'm ready to make a trade."

He chuckles on the other end, and something about it seems misplaced. Like a girl whose won in a short but heated argument with her boyfriend. I've heard the sound often enough in my old school. "I knew you'd call me back. So what would you like to know?"

I turn to look at Ryoji and he mouths the question to me. "I want to know what happened on Port Island seven years ago."

Another chuckle, "That's a good one. In exchange, tell me something I don't know about Souji Seta. He lives in 400. His dating life would be nice. I've got a request pending from someone who wants to know who he's dating. Word on the street is that it's Mina, but I've got information that counters that so what do you have for me?"

I can feel disgust rising in the pit of my stomach. Souji seemed like a nice guy. When I asked Naoto about him the other day, she'd kept quiet to hide their relationship. There had to be a reason for that. Could I really go through with this? Was this really okay? "Naoto... He's going out with Naoto Shirogane."

There's silence on the other end for a few seconds. Was Navi surprised? "Are you sure...? This is huge. Your source?"

"Yosuke. He lives on their-"

"I know who he is. Excellent. I'll make a note of it. If I find out you're lying, there will be heavy damage! You mark my words." It sounds cliche and childish. Even with the deep gravelly voice, I can only imagine a child saying something like that and taking it seriously. There's some scribbling on the other end and when Navi speaks again, I can hear the distinct note of a voice changing machine.

"Seven years ago a strange disease known back then as Apathy Syndrome took over the people of Port Island. There used to be a lot of blog posts about it from people who lived there, but most of them are gone now. I'll send what's left to your email once we get off the phone. Basically, it made people really depressed. They would still do normal everyday activities, but all they could think about was the end of the world, known under the umbrella name as The Fall. A man named Takaya Sakaki took advantage of those people and started a cult known as Strega. They were going to enact The Fall themselves. On January 31st 2009, 156 bombs went off on Port Island in every location you can think of. It killed over a quarter of the population and wounded over 100,000 people."

Ryoji is staring off into the distance. It's clear he's still listening, but his mind is far away, back to the Port Island of 2009, where his friends were caught in a hailstorm of fire and death.

"What about the people on the third floor? How are they connected?"

"Since it's our first deal, I'll answer that one for free. Do you know the name Mitsuru Kirijo?"

"Yeah. She's the president of the Kirijo Corp." Her company was famous for pumping out new vaccines and medications every year. Their advancements in medicine were legendary. No one knows what she looks like but she took up her family's mantle at the young age of 19 because her father and grandfather died in an...

"Earthquake. The Kirijo lab was located on Port Island. In fact, the island and its population were guinea pigs for the company's drugs. Her grandfather was president at the time. 'Apathy Syndrome' is just a fancy name for the side effects of one of his drugs. After the explosions, Mitsuru Kirijo used her family's money to sink the island and hide the truth. The only people she saved were the ones who helped her. The people who live on the third floor.

"So...Akihiko...Mina...Even Ken... All of them... They all..."

"That's right. They're accomplices to murder. I learned the truth from a scientist who worked for Kirijo at the time. She spilled the beans on everything before she mysteriously disappeared. My guess is that Kirijo had her silenced."

I'm quiet for several minutes. Navi doesn't supplement either, simply whistling a jaunty tune into the receiver. After what seems like hours, Ryoji stands up, takes the receiver out of my hand, and hangs up the phone. When he speaks, his voice is deep and tired. "No one told me the story. Now I know."

I'm staring at him flabbergasted. He returns my gaze, and for once he is completely serious. Even somber. He leads me to my chair as I yell at him. "That can't be the whole story! There has to be more!"

He sighs, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Mitsuru's grandfather was a brilliant but cruel man. To bypass all the humanitarian laws against his research, he built an island so he could run his experiments where no one would be able to stop him. Mitsuru is a good person. When she found out what her family was trying to do, she tried to help the victims. She started a school club called SEEs but it was just a ploy to get more people to help her. They ran around getting rid of corrupt cops, hospitalizing people who needed it, and fighting off those who became aggressive with Apathy Syndrome. Everyone worked hard to keep things under control until that day. January 31st. I caught Apathy Syndrome a week before. You don't know what it's like. Every day, every waking minute is filled with regret. I'd lost all sense of time and space, and the only thing I could look forward to was the end of it all. Takaya found me trying to kill myself at the edge of Moonlight Bridge. I never wanted to hurt anyone. I couldn't do that to them. I wasn't the one who brought that bomb to school."

"Junpei saw you holding it."

"He saw me running with it. I'd stolen it to try and save people."

"From who?"

He sighs again, and now there's a distinct look of pain on his face. "Chidori. Junpei's girlfriend."

* * *

 **You have now unlocked Free Time. At the end of [some] chapters you may choose how Akira decides to spend his free time, whether it be running with Ryuji, training with Chie, completing a quest, working a part-time job, or spending quality time with one of the other characters.**

 **[Free Time] Akira has some free time tomorrow. What should he do with it?**

 **[Flag] Does Akira confront the twins with the knowledge he now knows? (Bravery x5)**

 **[Navi's Secret]** **Does Akira make a trade with Navi? Up for sale: Ann's location** **[Required: Ryuji's Secret]**

 **You have started Ryoji's Quest: Prove His Innocence. You have completed Task One. [5]**


	6. Jumping through Time (1)

**Quest Progression Alert:** **You have started Ryoji's Quest: Prove His Innocence. You have completed Task One. [3]**

 **Requirement Met. Route Two bypassed. Route One selected.**

 **Sequence commencing...**

* * *

 _"Are you lost...?" A beautiful girl is crouching down to look at me on eye level. Her dark hair is pulled back by a silk, red hair band._

 _"I...I don't know where I am." My mouth moves, but the sound that I hear isn't my voice. It's high-pitched, almost squeaky, like that of a child._

 _"Where are your parents?" Her smile is small, almost sweet, but it lights up her face like a delicacy._

 _"They were fighting, and I ran away. I don't know where I am... What do I do...?"_

 _She's quiet for a minute as she ponders my problem. "Are you staying at the inn?" I nod, staring into her eyes. They're black as the void. She reaches for my hand, "I can walk you back. If you say sorry, they'll forgive you. They're probably looking for you right now."_

 _I take her hand, pulling myself up. She's a bit taller than me. My head only comes to her shoulder. She leads me past a noodle shop, and then a burger place, up a hill to what looks like an old Japanese castle._

 _"What's your name?"_

 _"Kurosu. Akira Kurosu." She starts to laugh, snorting into her hand. It takes her almost a minute to compose herself enough to talk again._

 _"Really?! It's like your parents were trying to turn you into a killer."_

* * *

I jolt awake. What in the world was all that? It felt as real as any one of my other dreams, maybe even more so. Almost like a memory.

I grab a new journal from my shelf, writing down the bits and pieces that haven't disappeared yet. The girl in my dream, had it been Yukiko? Her face was already slipping away, but the hair stood bright in my mind: black and velvety just like hers.

It's no use. No matter hard how I try, the dream is already fading away. The face of that beautiful girl is already gone.

A faint light streams in through my one window. Morning, then. The clock reads 6:48AM. Already a new day, and much later than I would normally wake up. I fall back down onto my pillow, the springs creaking under my weight, like it had done for Ryoji the day before. The memory is more solid than my dream, but much less plausible. Did I really strike a deal with a ghost? Or the devil? He was one or the other. I look at hands. His hand had felt warm. Solid. He'd felt like any other normal human being.

I check my journal, but the words are as illegible as they were yesterday. I must've been either panicked or crazy to write like this. All the characters look like Egyptian code and numbers. Nothing even close to resembling words.

After trading with Navi, Ryoji told me his side of the story, that of a martyr trying to save his school and his friends from a kamikaze. "I'll think of a plan. Wait for my call. I'll have something ready by next week." We swapped cell phone numbers and he left right after by opening the door. As simple as could be. I almost expected him to vanish into a cloud of butterflies.

 _*knock* *knock*_

The sound causes me to jump. Who would be looking for me this early in the morning?

I open the door to see Ryuji standing outside, half-dressed in black striped pajamas pants with no shirt on. He's skinny, with the beginnings of defined abs. "Hey man. I'm going to skip out today."

It takes me a minute to remember what he's talking about. "Chie's not going to like that."

He sighs, rubbing his face while taking a seat on my bed. "I know, but I need a little more time. Can you go instead? She won't be as mad if you're there, plus they're really strong. Chie does wrestling and Akihiko was a boxer in high school."

The lazy part of me tells me to stay in bed, but Ryuji's my first friend in all this, and the first person in a long time to truly trust me. I didn't want to disappoint him. "Okay. What are you going to do?"

"Do you mind if I sleep in here? Chie is probably going to come knock on my door in the next 20 minutes. She might even bust down my door."

I think about this for a minute before shaking my head, and throwing him one of my bigger pajama tops. "Put on a shirt. People lose 680 milligrams of dead skin in their sleep."

He stares at me for several seconds, a blank look on his face. "Dude. That is the weirdest thing anyone has ever said to me. "

I ignore him, grabbing my keys and a change of clothes, before shutting the door behind me.

My morning routine takes me a few minutes, more than enough time to think over my actions. Did I really trust him enough to leave him alone in my room? What if that was his goal all along? I didn't know Ryuji that well, but he had taken a lot of big steps to becoming my friend. It really didn't take much when you were a nervous wreck that no one liked.

When I walk out the bathroom, I see Ryuji's bedroom door is open. Chie is standing inside, her hands on her hips. I knock on the door, and she swivels in my direction. "Where's the idiot?"

"I'm not sure, but I'm ready to train." I put on my best attempt at a smile.

Chie grins, crossing her arms over her chest. "Well, one is better than nothing. Let's go."

She leads me down to the first floor and out a door into a small open field. "Where are we?"

"The backyard." Akihiko is waiting outside in a t-shirt and gym shorts. He smiles when he sees us. "Well, well, well. I didn't expect to see you here. Did Chie threaten you?"

She elbows him in the ribs. "I wouldn't do that. He came by the restaurant yesterday so I invited him."

They joke for another minute before we get started on a few stretches. Within minutes, I'm sweating, much to Akihiko and Chie's pleasure. We do laps next, followed by a few strength exercises. They offer to teach me a few combat techniques, but I turn them down. I wasn't ready to fight either of them. Maybe after a few more sessions. I decide to watch Chie and Akihiko spar instead. Chie likes to use her legs, doing flips and kicks, whereas Akihiko is mostly throwing around strength in his upper body. They're well-matched, much to my surprise.

It takes several minutes before the momentum shifts. Chie throws a well-aimed kick at Akihiko's hip, but he catches her with just a few inches to spare, flipping her onto her back. He pins one of her wrists against her ankle, holding her in place. I run, sliding next to them to do a quick three count. Akihiko lets go in the last beat. He offers me a high-five, which I gladly take. "Well that was fun."

Chie rolls onto her back before doing a flip onto her feet, brushing the grass off of her clothes and limbs. "You just say that cause you won. Next time for sure, I'll get you." She grins, punching him in the arm again.

"You say that every time." A new voice joins the mix, and I turn around to see Yukiko followed closely by Kanji dressed like I've never seen him. His unruly hair is combed straight back and a thick pair of black-rimmed glasses sits on his face. In his hands is a tray with several mugs of black liquid and several slices of toast.

Yukiko is laughing at her own joke, but immediately stops when she sees me, her demeanor suddenly shy.

Kanji slaps me on the shoulder. "Hey man, didn't expect to see you here."

"Chie and Ryuji made me come." I answer him, rubbing my shoulder. The area where he hit me stung just the tiniest bit. "What's with the glasses?"

"I had a meeting at the school earlier since class is starting soon. This'll be my first semester as a real teacher." His cheeks are flushed, a nervous smile lighting up his face. "How do I look?"

Words fail me. He didn't look bad per say, just different. Odd. I pick the first word I can think of. "Smart."

"Smart's good. Smart's really good when you're a teacher." Yukiko adds quickly.

Kanji lets out a sigh, and smiles again, looking much more natural. "Where's Ryuji?"

"Not here." Chie answers, scowling. Akihiko shrugs next to her. "He's bailed on us for weeks. I don't expect much out of him at this point."

I immediately feel awkward. The two of them were clearly disappointed in him, and it takes every bit of my self-control to not tell them what I know. He should face them himself when he was ready. It wouldn't be right to do his explaining for him. I could only hope he'd be ready soon.

Everyone falls into an awkward silence, only to be broken by Kanji yelling, "Enough about that. Have some tea. I put lemon in it."

I take a sip, and am pleasantly surprised. "I think I taste mint?"

Kanji looks amazed for a minute, but then a huge grin breaks out on his face. "How'd you know? I'm always trying out new stuff in my food. Shinji told me that if you put some mint into tea it really brings out the flavor. How's it taste?"

"Pretty good. If you want to try something else, I've got a couple different things growing in my room." Kanji slaps my shoulder again on the other side, and despite the pain, I can feel a warm feeling in my chest. I was making friends. They were awkward and strange, but they were good people.

The five of us talk about everything and nothing. Chie likes to talk about new fight tactics with Akihiko. Yukiko likes to throw in a joke or two at random intervals. Kanji seems just as interested, but has little to add. Every so often, he'll turn to me and ask me something about an herb or a plant and I'm happy to tell him everything I know. The conversation is light, nothing memorable, but it's nice. Simple.

"So I heard you made a ruckus with Junpei a few days ago." The subject change is abrupt, and Akihiko is looking at me with a pitiful expression. Like a parent to someone else's idiotic child. The others look shocked, all of them focusing their attention on me. I look down into my mug of tea to avoid their gazes.

"I...didn't mean to. I didn't know..." Ryoji's words echo in my ears. _It was Chidori. Junpei's girlfriend._

"It's okay." Akihiko's kind words shock me enough to make me look up, and he's smiling at me sadly. "To be honest, I was kind of using today as a test and I want you to know that I don't think you meant anything by what you said. You probably had no idea what would happen and I think everyone was just surprised. None of us have thought about Ryoji in a long time."

"Whose Ryoji?" Yukiko asks, right on cue.

"He's someone...We've tried to forget." Akihiko sighs, looking off into the distance.

The girls and Kanji all look down, and there's a look of pain on their faces that matches Akihiko. Despite the secrets, everyone here clearly shared something much deeper, and maybe it couldn't be explained with one person or one event. Maybe what we all shared was just an emotion, or an understanding.

Akihiko shakes off the mood, punching me lightly in the arm. "Don't let it get to you. I'll figure out who was messing with you. Junpei and Yukari were pretty angry, but they'll get over it. Junpei's an okay guy once you get to know him... Chidori's death hit him really hard." He hands his mug back to Kanji and then gets up to go, leaving me alone with the other three.

The four of us watch him go in silence, almost mesmerized by his departure. The spell is broken by a loud buzzing. It takes me a few seconds to realize it's coming from the pocket of my joggers. _Dad._

I run a short distance away from the gang before I answer the call. "Hey Dad..."

"Hey." His feminine voice is gentle, almost uncertain in its sweetness. "How are you adjusting?"

I look over to Kanji, Yukiko and Chie. They're making strange motions at me, and exaggerated faces. It takes me some time before I realize they're trying to say they're leaving. I wave to let them know I understand. "Better. I like this place. The people are...different. Nice."

My dad lets out a breath, and I can feel him relax slightly even over the phone. "Good. That's good. Your mom was worried about you. Do you need anything? How's Igor and Belladonna doing?"

"I hear they're pretty down after finding out about Eriko. Did you know her?" He's silent for a minute, and I can hear some shuffling on his end as he moves somewhere before he answers.

"Yeah. We were close friends in high school, but I honestly haven't seen her since leaving the apartments." He doesn't even take a breath to compose himself as he continues on his one-man path. "How are your wounds? Do they still hurt?"

I instinctively pull on the hem of my long t-shirt at the question. "I'm fine. Even the doctors said so."

"I know. I know. I'm sorry. Call me if you need anything okay?" His voice is filled with worry, and I'm thankful. He wasn't the best father, but he cared for me. That was more than I could ask for from him.

"Okay, dad. I love you." The words felt true. A small part of me ached for them despite their decision to send me away.

"Love you too." And I knew he meant it. When he looked at me, he didn't see me. He saw my real father, the one even Navi didn't know about. He couldn't know after all. My parents never even told _me_.

I end the call and stop by the front door to check my mailbox. I find a small allowance from my mom but the rest is junk. Not a single letter from the people back in Tokyo. They were probably glad to be rid of me. I take the long way back to my room.

Ryuji has his back to me, sitting in the chair for my desk. It takes me a few seconds to realize he's leafing through one of my notebooks. I immediately panic. What did he read? Did he think I was crazy? Would he tell everyone? He didn't notice me yet.

I press myself against the wall, taking a few seconds to compose myself.

 _*breath in*_

 _*breath out*_

 _*breath in*_

 _*breath out*_

"What are you doing?"

He jumps in my chair, fear written on his face. "Dude! Don't do that! I was going through this story and it's crazy! Are you a writer or something? This is really intense. Serious horror mystery." He hands me the page he's currently leafing through. I try to skim it and fail. The handwriting is mine, but the characters look strange, unfamiliar.

"How can you read that? It doesn't even look like Japanese."

He cocks his head slightly and scratches the side like a monkey. "What do you mean? Your handwriting is pretty bad, but I can read most of it. This entry is pretty cool. You walk in on a murder, and the serial killer chases you through an alley, only to kill you at Shibuya Crossing in front of a bunch of witnesses? That's crazy intense. I can't even imagine how the killer would get away after that. And he's a cannibal too? He'd be covered in blood. No way he can escape. Let me read the rest."

I snatch the notebook away from him. He thought it was a story. Just a story. I scan over the page again but none of the words stick. They're just symbols, drawings with no meaning to me. "Don't. It's not finished."

He keeps rambling like he hasn't heard me. "You've got like 20 of them here. Are they all like that? Can I read another one?"

I close the box before he can reach for them. He couldn't read them. Sooner or later even he would realize it wasn't just a story, but a re-telling of my dreams and memories. The insanity that drove everyone away. "No! It's... it's embarrassing."

Ryuji flops onto my bed, staring at my ceiling. "Nah. Don't think like that. It's cool, what you're doing. You're pretty good. Got me hooked." He leans back onto his elbows so he can look at me. "I wish I was good at something like that. Now that I can't run, there isn't anything I can throw myself into."

I sit on my box, before turning to look at him. "What do you mean?"

"I'm not really passionate about anything. This is my last year of high school. I thought I'd go into running, maybe try to go pro, but I can't do that anymore. I can't really do anything else, and I'm not smart like you. I don't have anything to fall back on. I can't hide in my room and do nothing forever, but I don't have anything I'm good at. I'm just...I don't know. Guess I'm a little jealous."

Jealous...? Ryuji was jealous of me? "Why?"

"I don't know. You seem kinda...confused all the time. Like you're not sure what you're doing with your life, so I thought we had that in common. But you're not like me. You're smart and you have your writing. You're good at it. You're nothing like me."

In that moment, I reached a point. My trust in Ryuji pushed over into something that was akin to communion. The two of us were more similar than he would ever know. "I...I wanted to be a gymnast. My mom and dad trained me for a long time. I was really good at it too. I could do anything. The Olympics were coming up, but I...quit."

He's staring at me with an expression of awe, and when he speaks, it's like he's doing it through my mind instead of using his voice. "Why...?"

"Anxiety. I don't know when it started, but I was seeing stuff that wasn't there. Panicking. Getting scared for no reason. I couldn't do the jumps or the beam. I kept shaking. I couldn't focus. My coach cut me from the team." I take off my glasses so I can clean off the lens. So I don't need to look at him. "I gave up on everything. Stopped caring. My grades dropped. I had a girl... a friend who was a girl and she didn't...want me either. My friends stopped talking to me. None of them wanted anything to do with me."

Ryuji's mouth is open, just hanging suspended in disbelief. "Just because of your anxiety?"

I nod. It wasn't a lie, not really.

"What about your writing? That's still pretty good."

I look down at the one notebook in my hand and the characters remain the same, illegible. How long had I been like this? Why didn't I realize it until now? "I can't read."

"WHAT?!" He slaps his hand over his mouth, before trying again in a whisper. "What...? What do you mean you can't read...? Like at all?"

"When I look at the page, everything looks weird. Like code, and numbers." And I realize the truth as I speak it. When did this happen to me? I was fine before I came here. I was fine a few days ago when I'd written in my notebook after breakfast with Kanji. Maybe a little dizzy. The memory is a bit fuzzy but when the hell did it all change? What was happening to me? What was going to happen to me now that I couldn't write down my thoughts anymore.

"So all those stories that you were writing...?"

"I don't know. I probably won't be able to do it anymore."

He's silent for a minute, as if contemplating my problem. "What about recording yourself, like an audiobook? Can you still write?"

I nod. That was the oddest part. I had no problem visualizing words, but the moment they were written on paper, it's like their shape shifted into gibberish written by a monkey. "I'll try that."

He nods, slapping me on the shoulder. Why did all the guys in this apartment like to hit me on the shoulder? "Hey... Thanks for opening up to me. I feel a little better now."

I nod. I felt a little better too. We spend the next couple hours lounging around my room. Ryuji finds my Vita and plays that for a while, telling me about the story and the characters I'm already familiar with. When I look over his shoulder, the script it undecipherable. Despite knowing all the lines almost word for word, I can't read them anymore. I try with my books, and the problem persists. Eventually, I give up completely.

All of a sudden, I hear his stomach grumble. "Do you want to get something to eat?"

He nods and puts the console down. "Lavenza hides a stash of ice cream in the freezer behind the fish."

We only just leave my room when we hear someone shouting. We follow the noise and it grows louder as we draw closer to the source one floor down. Rise is yelling at Kanji who is backing away into the railing.

"Did all of you know?!"

"How did you even find out...?"

"All of you. Chie. Yukiko. Yosuke. EVEN TEDDIE! All of you knew and none of you told me?! How could you do that to me?!"

"It's not like that! Listen. It was only for a couple of months. We didn't think it was important. We didn't wan-"

"You didn't want to let me know! Did you even care how I would feel?! You're my best friend! All those years I spent chasing after him...Did all of you just laugh at me behind my back?!" Tears are streaming down her face. "Naoto...All this time, he was in love with Naoto...?"

"NO! It's not what you think!" Kanji reaches for her arm, but she pushes him away with all her strength.

Kanji stumbles, and the shock freezes on his face as all his weight falls on the railing behind him. There is an audible crack as it breaks. His body follows the momentum of his fall.

 _*Thump*_

One.

 _*Thump*_

Two.

 _*Thump*_

His body hits the stairwell twice before it hits the wall where it rests in a sitting position. His glasses which looked so strange on his face lie several feet away from one of his large hands. A piece of glass is stuck in his palm. There is a bit of blood on the floor. Just a little bit, not enough to be afraid. Not enough to spell death.

Rise walks a few steps down the stairs, her hands and knees shaking. On the last few steps, she stumbles before falling in front of his body. One of her hands are bleeding, absolutely covered in glass, but she doesn't seem to notice. Her hands are shaking as they reach for his face. "Kanji...? Kanji... Hey... Come on. Stop messing around. Answer me...I'm sorry. I forgive you. Just answer me..." She's shaking his shoulders but there's no response. A bone is sticking oddly inside his neck.

The other people in the apartment rush over. One of the redheads from the third floor rushes up to them. She checks the pulse on his wrist first, then pushes Rise aside to check his chest and his neck before turning to someone behind her and shaking her head. "He snapped his neck when he fell. He was dead before impact."

Rise says nothing. It doesn't even look like she's heard the girl next to her.

There's screaming behind me, and I turn to see Yukiko screaming at the top of her lungs. The tears look endless as she tries to claw her way out of Chie's death grip. Chie is also crying, but her arms are wrapped around Yukiko's waist to keep her in place. Naoto is slumped onto the floor. Her blank expression scares me, but it's Teddie who takes all of my attention. He's screaming until his throat is raw, clawing at his wrists. Blood flows in long red lines, down his arm. They're smearing his clothes. The floor. A puddle of blood. If he keeps doing that, he'll go into shock from blood loss. He'll die.

* * *

My chest hurts. The feeling is familiar. I felt it almost constantly a long time ago. It would be there for a couple days but then it would randomly stop, and wouldn't happen again for a while. It could be a couple days, weeks, or even years. Now, it was happening again as I watched the scene in front of me.

"Help me!" Chie has her arms wrapped around Rise, trying to hold her back. The redhead is kicking and screaming, flailing as she tries to throw herself at Kanji.

"Don't just stand there, help me!" My body was frozen in fear.

* * *

 **Stat Progression in this chapter: Ryuji Bond up. Chie Bond up. Akihiko Bond up. Yukiko Bond up. Kanji Bond up. Strength up. Agility up.**

 **You have unlocked Timed Flag. Certain requirements need to be met by a specific day or another route will be chosen.**

 **[Timed Flag] Save Kanji [Required: Rise Bond X3, Kanji BondX3, or Chie BondX3, {MET: Kanji 3}, Bravery X4, Strength x3 {Met Strength: 4}, Motivation x6]**

 **Deadline: January 13th**

 **Navi's Secret:** **Up for sale: Ann's location** **[Required: Ryuji's Secret] Price will expire Chapter 8**


	7. Investigating the Answer (2)

**Requirement Met. Route Two selected.**

 **Sequence commencing...**

* * *

My chest hurts. The feeling is familiar. I felt it almost constantly a long time ago. It would be there for a couple days but then it would randomly stop, and wouldn't happen again for another few days, weeks, or even years. Now, it was happening again as I watched the scene in front of me.

"Don't just stand there, help me!" Chie has her arms wrapped around Rise as she kicks and screams, trying to throw herself at a dumbfounded Kanji.

I run at the girls, tackling them both to the ground a few feet from the staircase. Chie doesn't seem to feel the impact, using the momentum to grab the redhead by the arms and throw her into an arm lock. Rise is still kicking and screaming, but her arms are out of commission. Chie pulls them up, so that she's crouching and Rise is sitting on her knees.

I shake Kanji, bringing him out of his stupor. He turns to look at me, his face pale. I push him towards Rise. He looks at me once more before kneeling down to face her. "Rise... I can ex-"

"YOU LIED TO ME! ALL OF YOU LIED TO ME!" She throws her head violently, the ribbons in her hair coming undone, so wavy red strands are streaming down over her face. She looks like a madwoman.

"We didn't want you to get hurt!" Kanji screams back at her.

"LET ME GO! LET. ME. GO!" She's twisting and turning her body, but it's not use. Chie's grip on her is unbreakable.

"I'll let you go if you calm down! You need to listen... We can explain!" Chie answers her.

"I don't care!" Rise screams, shaking her head. Sobs rack her body. All of a sudden, she stops moving, her body going limp. Chie looks over to Kanji who in turn looks at me. I shake my head. I had no idea what was going to happen next. Kanji moves tentatively to put a hand on her shoulder when the sound of her voice stops us all.

It's quiet and cold. Like that of a machine "I don't care..."

Chie's grip on her loosens, her face shocked. Rise stands up, her body completely listless, and walks away to her room. The four of us watch her go, completely silent. Finally, when she disappears out of sight, Chie runs at Ryuji, pushing him in the chest. "Why did you just stand there?! Why didn't you help?!"

"I..I'm sorry. I just... I didn't know what to do." Ryuji is spluttering, hiding his face behind his hands.

"Something! Anything!" She pushes him again before pointing at me. "You could've done what Akira did! At least he tried to help! And he barely knows us."

Ryuji turns to me, his eyes pleading for me to help him but I say nothing. Would anything I said help? I'd moved on instinct. Fear. I kept hearing a voice in my head to tell me to move. Move or else someone would be hurt, possibly even die. "I didn't really do anything."

Kanji pulls me away from the two of them to whisper into my ear, "Don't say anything. Now's not the time. Chie's mad at him for a lot more than just that fight back there.

I nod, trying my best to blend into the background. I hadn't meant for any of this to happen. "I'm sorry...for this whole thing. I'm so sorry."

"Why are you apologizing? You didn't do anything. I have no idea how Rise found out but I'll talk to her again when she's calmed down." He sighs, taking off his glasses to rub his face. Guilt rises in my chest, but I have no desire to confess. I can't. I won't. No good could possibly come of it, and no one was hurt. Confessing now would do more harm than good.

"Thanks for trying to help." He looks over at Chie and Ryuji who are still arguing before turning back to me. "Want to go get some dinner?"

I nod again, and the two of us quietly sneak off to the dinning room.

Dinner is a quiet affair for me. Plenty of people are talking, but Kanji and I are mostly silent. Akihiko, Souji, Minato, and a few other people leave for work. Some don't come to dinner at all. Kanji is frequently looking around for Rise. She never appears, but he makes a second plate for her anyway.

I follow him to her room. The door is bright orange, with a neon green sign on the front that says she's inside. He knocks on the door but there's no response. "I've brought you dinner. Can I come in?"

No response.

Kanji tries the knob, and is surprised to find it unlocked. He looks at me briefly before walking in.

Rise's room is unnaturally simple. Her walls are bare but a mountain of yarn animals sit on wooden shelves. Her floor is covered in thick gray carpet compared to my wood. Throw pillows are sitting around the room at random locations. An orange bed sits under the window against wall directly in front of us. A closet makes up the wall on the left, and a wooden table occupies the right. A cell phone is buzzing incessantly on top. I check the caller ID to see a name I can't read. Kanji turns off the phone before approaching her. "Rise...?"

She's sitting on her bed, her head pressed against the wall. Her window is open and the spring air blows in gently. "Rise?"

"Go away..." She whispers, not turning to look at us.

Kanji puts her dinner on her desk before pulling out her chair so he can sit. "I know you're angry...And I'm sorry for not telling you but..."

"Five years, Kanji. I've loved him for five years. Is that how long you loved her...?" She whispers the words into the open air.

"I don't...that was a long time ago. I don't. Not anymore." Kanji's stuttering, and I can tell he's nervous. There's no way Rise wouldn't notice

"So is it him? Do you love him too? It's hard not to, isn't it?" She's still whispering, and I begin to wonder if she's talking to us or to herself.

"They broke up." She finally turns around, her eyes wide with shock. They're red, rimmed with tears and pain.

"What...?"

"We didn't tell you because they broke up. Naoto... She dumped him last month. They were together for almost a year, but they didn't tell anyone. Yukiko and I found out because we heard them arguing in her room."

"But Yosuke said-"

Kanji groans interrupting her. "That's how you found out?! Goddamnit! I'm going to strangle him!"

I take a step to tell him it wasn't Yosuke, but I stop myself. If I said that, he'd wonder how I knew. He'd ask me questions I wouldn't be able to answer without giving myself away. I take a step back and say nothing.

My movement seems to alert Rise to my presence and she turns to look at me for the first time. "You... You're the new guy... what are you doing here?"

Kanji rushes to defend me. "I asked him to come. He was worried about you. Like the rest of us. We didn't tell you because we didn't want you to be hurt. Souji's not with anyone anymore. That's the truth, okay?"

She's silent, staring at him with a blank expression and I can't help but wonder what she's thinking. "What about Naoto?"

Kanji looks away, clearly uncomfortable. "She's interested in someone else. I think."

My mind immediately skips to Akihiko. I'd seen them together. The admiration on her face had been unmistakable. Was it more than just respect? Possibly. Was it any of my business? No. I would stay out of it. I'd caused enough trouble. This entire mess had been my fault. If I didn't make that trade with Navi, none of this would've happened.

Rise doesn't answer him, and no one says anything for a minute. I try my best to withstand the silence, looking around the room instead. There's a picture sitting in an ornate glass frame on her desk. Rise is standing in front Kanji and Souji, between Yukiko and Chie. Naoto is standing on the far left. An older man I've never seen stands next to Souji, and there's a little girl in front of him between Naoto and Chie.

I'm about to ask Kanji about the picture when Rise speaks again. "I'll be okay, Kanji. Can you guys leave? I want to talk to my manager."

He seems to hesitate for a minute before nodding and pushing me out. She smiles at me before closing the door.

Kanji throws an arm over my shoulders, leaning his head against me. The moment is intimate, almost romantic, and I tense up. "Thanks for being here today. You've been a big help."

He takes a step back before letting me go and walking back to his room. The door is fancy with a glass window covered in vines. For a minute I am alone, and I'm transported to a different scene.

Kanji is sitting against the wall of the third floor landing. There's a small circle of glass in front of him. The frame for his glasses lies a few feet from his large hands. Rise is crying as she kneels in front of him. There's a blaring sound in the back of my mind. His neck is twisted oddly. Clearly broken. Shattered. He's not breathing.

I shake my head, bringing myself back to reality. The fourth floor hallway of the apartments. It's completely empty except for the wall lamps lighting my path. The warmth of it brings me certainty. No one is dead. No one is dead.

* * *

 _"Uncle Sojiro?" The bell rings when I walk in. The coffee shop is empty and dark, uncharacteristic. I check my phone to make sure I'm not too late. 7:52PM. He's normally here until about 15 minutes after 9. Why was the shop closed so early? "Uncle Sojiro...?"_

 _I take several more steps, looking for the light switch. My finger finds it, but despite several flicks the room remains dark. "_ _Uncle Sojiro! It's me, Akira! I'm here to ask you about something!"_

 _No one answers me. Light from the street lamp gives me enough to work with. I see the counter, and a few empty mugs of coffee sitting on it. I prop open the door using the peg outside so more light can stream in. My hand touches one of the mugs, and the porcelain is still warm._

 _"Uncle So-" The sound dies in my throat. I see him at last. He's lying at the back of the restaurant, away from the light. His green apron is lying a few feet away. His shirt is open, the buttons torn off by brute force. There is a sea of red. It's brown in the dark. His stomach has been cut open, entrails spilling over onto the floor. A man is leaning over him. I don't see his face. All I can do is turn and run._

* * *

I jolt awake. Fear is coursing through my veins but it's subdued. The nightmare is familiar, at this point, even normal. I rub my face and grab my phone to record an entry. I play it back and it works well. I can move the recording onto my computer or a flash drive later. I run my hand over my box of journals. There were 24 here. Almost 4 months worth of entries. None of them mattered anymore.

 _*brrrrng*_

The sound makes me jump. I stare at the phone without moving. The last time someone called me, it was Navi and that whole fiasco didn't end well. It rings twice more before it stops completely and my room is quiet. I'm about to crawl back into bed when the phone starts ringing again.

 _*brrrrng*_

 _*brrrrng*_

 _"_ What do you want?!" I snarl.

"Come to room 300 at 8PM. We need to talk. My name is on the front." The line goes dead immediately afterward.

 _300?_

Who the hell was in Room 300? How could I even be sure it was the right room? None of the doors had room numbers on them. I check my own door, still slightly unnerved by the design. The iron and glass is cold underneath my hands. Finally, halfway down, I see it. There's a wooden, sliding, place card with an engraving in the middle. Presumably my name.

I contemplate the problem a bit more before pushing the call to the back of my mind, getting ready for the day.

The dinning room is bustling. A few people are sitting down for breakfast, but a majority of the residents are grabbing their breakfast to go. Chie in particular looks exhausted as she packs two plastic containers for herself. I wave when I walk in and she returns the greeting. Dark bags sag underneath her eyes.

Akihiko is sitting with Ken and Junpei. I offer him a smile but decide not to join them. I get a plate for myself and sit alone, watching the scene play out in front of me. Despite all the drama that started with my arrival, the dorm was quite calm for housing this many people. There were at least thirty people in this building, and for all that, arguments seemed low.

As I'm having this thought, Yukiko rushes into the room. She grabs two plastic containers from a high cupboard, filling both with a random assortment of breakfast food. I rush up behind her, tapping her on the shoulder. She turns around, surprised. The moment she sees me, she seems to shrink, hiding her face behind the cover for the container. "A...Akira? What's up? I'm kind of in a rush right now. Do you need something?"

"Are you headed somewhere?"

She nods, turning around to cap both of her boxes. "I'm headed to work. Excuse me." She uses the containers to push me out of the way before practically running out the door.

I don't even think. There isn't any reason whatsoever for my actions, but I run after her. She grabs a large handbag that's sitting at the main doors, stuffing her lunchboxes into it. As she zips up her bag, she turns back to me, clearly surprised. "Are- I really don't have time to talk right now. Why are you following me?!"

She continues running, and I follow her into the overhang where all the smaller vehicles and the bikes are stored. She rolls a red moped into the open path, and puts on her helmet, which is also red. Yukiko starts the engine and I move faster, hoping onto the bike behind her just as she reaches the top of the hill.

"What are you doing?!" I don't answer her. All of my attention is focused on not dying. Yukiko is going faster than safe or appropriate. If the bike tipped over for any reason, there is no chance of survival.

She drives a short distance, not saying a word, or telling me where we're going. The city is busy, but not crowded like Tokyo. Most people are walking, or riding a bicycle. Cars are far and few in between. She drives until she's at the edge of town, in front of a huge glass building. When we finally stop, my face is flushed and painful. More than a few rocks had hit me on the trip.

Yukiko throws her helmet at me, screaming, "Are you crazy?! You could have died! What if we crashed?"

"I had a dream about you." The moment the words leave my mouth, I realize how creepy I sound. "Not like a sexual dream!"

Her face flushes red, and she opens her mouth to yell at me. I immediately talk over her. "I was lost! You were helping me!"

Her mouth hangs slightly open, still a picture of elegance despite the embarrassment written on her. "So you do remember...?"

"No. Not really. I was hoping you could tell me what happened."

She shakes her head, throwing her helmet into her bag. "I really need to work."

I can see my dream again in my mind's eye. It's not clear. The entire thing seems to be covered in fog, but it's the same. I am sure Yukiko is the girl from my dream. She pulls me into the building, and I soon realize it's a small airport. There is only one airline on the display monitors.

"You can wait around if you want, but I don't get off work until 6PM. I can meet you here if you want." I nod, and she runs off, heading for a door marked 'Employees Only."

I take a quick look around the airport, but there isn't much to see. It is remarkably small. The planes are all headed for other small islands in Japan. I take a walk around the neighboring area, checking my phone as I go. Ryuji sends me a message, asking me where I am. I send him a quick reply but don't expect much. The dorms are almost an hour away, even on a bike.

The nearest shop is almost a mile away, and I run. Chie and Akihiko would be proud of me, if nothing else. Maybe I could even impress them at the next training session. Much to my surprise, the police station isn't far. Was this the precinct Naoto mentioned? I'm not sure, and I don't have any reason to go in there and ask for her.

I keep running until I find a large forest. It's fenced in, but the sign reveals that it's open to the public. I check my phone for the time, before I head in. The trail is clean, clearly well maintained despite being frequently used. I walk slowly to soak in the sights and smells. It reminds me of Yoyogi Park in its beauty. However, this is natural compared to the creation of man that I'm used to. Everything here is natural. The trees are clustered together, and the smell of animal manure is abundant.

The trail turns up, and I follow it, seeing less and less human interference until I come to a pond. Large stones litter the area. They are smooth and clean. Clearly, used by visitors. The scene is pristine, perfect in its loneliness.

 _*snap*_

All of my reflexes spur me into action. Maybe it's because I've just trained with Akihiko and Chie the day before, but my first instinct is to fight. When I turn, it's with my elbow. It connects with soft flesh and then teeth. It seems to crack under the pressure and the stranger falls to the ground face first, unmoving.

For a minute, I believe he is dead. My whole body shakes with fear. Did I kill him? That's impossible right? I'm not that strong. It shouldn't be this easy to kill someone. I reach for the pulse on his throat, when his hand suddenly grabs my wrist, pulling me toward him. I hold my body steady against his strength, and he pulls himself up instead.

Finally, I see his face.

"Teddie...?"

I'm transported back to the dorm. He's crouching on the floor, screaming at the ceiling, the sky, possibly even god. His fingers are clawing at his arms, ripping out chunks of skin and flesh. Blood streams down. Endlessly streaming down.

When I blink, I'm back to the present, and he's groaning as he massages his jaw. I can already see the beginnings of a purple bruise under his hand. "What was that for?!" He moans, clearly sore.

"I'm sorry! You snuck up behind me, and I was just... surprised. I didn't mean to hit you. Are you okay?" He tries to move his mouth in a biting motion and winces, shaking his head.

"This is awful! I can't bear this pain!" He's wailing, clinging to my arm. I'm tempted to shake him off, but the guilt about his jaw tells me to do otherwise.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry! Why are you even here?"

"It hurts! It hurts!" He's practically crying, kicking his hands and feet.

I sigh. "Let's go. Yukiko will fix you up."

His whines immediately stop, and his head swivels in every direction as he looks for her. "You're here with Yuki-chan? She had work today, didn't she?"

I don't answer him, dragging him down the path and out onto the street. We walk back to the airport, and it takes me significantly more time getting back than it did, getting to the park. Teddie is talking incessantly behind me, grumbling about his jaw and Yukiko. He only catches my attention when he mentions Kanji. "I saw what you did yesterday. Kanji could've been seriously hurt, so thanks for helping him."

I turn to look at him, searching my memory for his face. He wasn't on the landing, and I didn't see him in the common room, so how had he'd known? Where had he been?

He's silent when we walk up to the manager and ask for Yukiko. She rushes out to the front desk in a flight attendant's uniform. Teddie lets off a stream of compliments, some slightly more lewd than the others and Yukiko immediately slaps him. The moment she makes contact, a loud smack resonates through the airport. I wince. Several people turn to look at us.

Teddie shrivels up into a ball, cradling his jaw. There are tears in his eyes, but they don't fall. "It hurts!"

She's glaring at him, but then her eyes grow wide in shock as she crouches down to check his face. She turns to me, furious, "What happened to him?!"

I go through the story, and she seems to get more frustrated as I continue along. When I finally finish, she looks almost angry. "You're supposed to be at Junes! Yosuke is going to kill you! What were you doing in the forest?!"

"I'm a bear. That's what bears do!" He huffs, crossing his arms like a child.

"You're a mascot!" She slaps him on the shoulder and pulls him up. "Do you have your car?"

He nods, and Yukiko turns to me. "Teddie" She glares at him before she continues, "Will drive you home. We can talk another time." Teddie and I open my mouth to object but she holds a hand up to stop us. "I promise." She turns to Teddie to whisper something in his ear before pushing us out the door.

Teddie turns to look at her before eyeing me closely, his thoughts clearly conflicting. Something about him looks different but I can't quite put my finger on it, nor do I really want to. He's rambling a million miles a minute, not even stopping to breathe. The 20 minute ride feels like an eternity. When we finally reach home, I thank him for the ride, and proceed up to my room.

Once alone, I record another entry on my phone before uploading both onto my computer. It wasn't the same as writing. Hearing my own voice played back to me is strange. The pitch is different somehow. It's odd, but it works. I go through my notebooks. I couldn't read them anymore, but writing did wonders for my memory. I record a few more entries that I'm sure of, before making a copy onto a flash drive.

The work is slow, tedious, but it calms me after my strange encounter with Teddie. Despite never talking to him, I saw him often enough. He was close friends with the people on the fourth floor, and I was getting better acquainted with most of them. By comparison, at least I knew all their names. I couldn't even say that for the residents on my own floor.

After an hour or two, I go back to the dining hall. The attendants are setting out plates and a few people mill around, waiting for dinner. I spot Haru and Makoto and choose to sit with them while we wait. They do most of the talking, rambling about school work and teachers. While the girls are nice, I'm still terrified of Haru and know too much about Makoto's relationship with Akihiko to feel comfortable. I choose to simply listen while I eat.

Only bits and pieces catch my attention. They inform me that Kanji will be my Home EC teacher this year. The information should surprise me, but it doesn't. I already know he will do a good job.

As the minutes drag on, I finish my dinner and walk to the third floor mechanically. I still didn't know which room was 300 or who that room belonged to, but it was time to make my choice. I could leave, and go back to my room or spend the evening somewhere else. Did I want to talk to this person? What would they have to tell me?

* * *

 **Stat Progression in this chapter: Teddie Bond up. Chie Bond up. Rise Bond up. Kanji Bond up. Yukiko Bond up. Agility up. Reputation up.**

 **[Free time]** **Akira has some free time tomorrow. What should he do with it?**

 **[Flag] Do you go to Room 300? [Required: Name of NPC who this room belongs to. Each person is allowed one answer. The correct NPC must be chosen three times. Any comments that name more than one NPC as an answer will be stricken from the record.]**

 **Your actions have shifted Navi's Sale.** **Ann's location** **[Required: Minako's Secret {Not Met}] Price will expire Chapter 8**


	8. Falling in Place (2)

**Players: Lilli, Metal Vile, and Guest have solved the puzzle. Requirement Met. Route Two selected.**

 **Soundtrack Selected: Memories of the School**

 **Sequence commencing...**

* * *

I walk down the hall, checking each door for a room number: 真田明彦, 天田乾, コロマル, 岳羽ゆかり. Each one is different, but every door has some words written on the front. Some are engraved. Some are painted. I can't read a single name but it no longer matters. There isn't a room number anywhere in sight. Finally, I reach the end.

Mina's door is on the left, and it's the strangest of all. A mirror, but not really a mirror. The surface is glass, but I do not exist in the reflection. Only her brother's door behind me.

 **300**

 **H̶̻̭̭̹̣̬̯̤͇͆̿̈̀̅̋̐̅͑͡ȇ̵̘̝̰͉͖̦̐͐͗́͘͜ṙ̭̮̱͎̼̞̤̥̅̿͋̓̀́̈́̔ę͈͓͎̙̰͙̫̈̒̐̿̇͞ͅ S̵̬̠̣̦̱̝͈͍͔̀͋̿̂́̃͗̋͠l͇̥̬͙̪̍̿̀̏̐͡e̵̩̫͕͈̹̘͂̍̔̔͒̃͜͡é̸̼̖͉͙̹͙̻̆̋͌̕͡͡p̵̧͉͖̖͎̜̑̓̔̃̆̉̑͢͢ş̷̘̝̤̣̪͈͍̙̬͆̌́͂̎́́͋͞ M̨̥̱̲͙͑̄́̍͗i̢̗̱̝͔͍͔͌̋̐̀̐͑͐͜͢͟ņ̶̨̨̺͕̹̱̲̊̈̇́̃̐͢ą̵̨̺̗̩̖̊̍̊̽̏̀t̷̡̺̪̝͕̹͉̗̠̽͋̅̑̈́͢ȯ̸͉̪͔͎̐̑͆́̐͂̆̔̚͜ Ḁ̧̮͙͙̟̘̮̗̜̾̒̓̀́͆̂͞r̷͉͙̲͉̳͕̞̟̻̝̽̒̉̋͌̐̚͞i̴̧͓̹̙̳̹̖͔͊͂̐̇͗̽̆̓͘͝s̮̤̤̰̙͇̀̈́̽́́̆̾̊a̵͚̣͉͎̔̂͂̓̏̆͜t̨̧̼͎̜̠͓́́͋̚͢͠ó̷͔̙̜̥̻͇́̇͌͗** **.**

 **Ḧ̶̢̤̱̜̳͕̽̅̃̄̅̊̕͜ę̛̯̱͓͙̖͓̳̱̃̅̃̊̾͌͊ͅ i̡̗̠̯͎̼̅̅͛̽͂̄̑͘͜͜͡͝s̫̣͚̹͈͕̋̔͗͊̿̽͝͞͞ c̨͓͇̩̩͉̖͈̄͑̇̽̔̈̋̄͜o̶̢̩͓͇͚̘̩̗͊̎̆́͆̐̕͡m̵̙̠͔̟̯̪̤̈́̇̅͗̓̉̃̑͜͝m̧̧̳̟̖̙̝̅͆̎̈́̋̕͝͠ỏ̬̱̞̪͙̻͐̂̈́̇̏͞ͅṇ̸̢̢̢̟̤̳͖̗́̇̈́̀̆͝͞l̨̠̖͔̩̰̦͇͉̗̄̾͋͊͒͌͑y̵̢͙͕̯͍͙̞̐̓̽̔̔͛̑̑̐̕ a̶̛̯̠̤̫̠̟̠̋͐̓̋̋̀̆̒͝ṡ̸̢͕͈̱̥͈͓͗̉̑̋̑͌͘͘͘ļ̛̬̙̜̠͇͇̑͋̿̈́͂̎͞ȅ̶̱̤̟̓̿̽̔͗́̓́̄͟͜e̫̖̥͓̖͖͕̟̅͊́̐̒̿ͅp̴̛̙͎͔̱̮̠͖͒́̃̕ f̷͔̰͍̮͖̪͇̰̖̹̂̀́͊̐̚ŗ̸͎̳̱̪̲̊̀̀̈́̈̎ǫ̴̢̮̼̘̞̺͈̿͗̿͆̒͗̈́́̚͘m̴̫̻͕̺̃̽͑̀̔̒̌͛̂̅͜ 0͇͙̦̪͍̩͕̂̀̏̀̆͆͊̈́̌͘0̵̢͓̖͎͍̺̯͎̼͉̾̋̓̉͐̇̚0̶̙̻̗̘̟̦̽̐̈͑̊̂̄̑̕͢0̱͉̯͓͑́͊̿̾̓̑̌̐͢͡ H̴̱̝̞͇̜̻̥̺̙̰͆̾̇͂̔͌̌o̸̠̪̩̻̣͌̅̇̑͊̈́̈́ų̢̘̠͉͍̞̻̇̓̿̽̕͠r̸̨̛̜͍͉̬̗̘̞͆̔͗̀͗̓͗̚͟͡ş̵̦̝̼̙̯͕̀̂̀̌̊̈̏̈́̕ t̶̢̹̯̙͖̭̱̱̩̽̆̑̇͘ò̢̧͚̼̠̝̪͍̐͗́͐͜ 2̡̪̬͇̤̯̒̎̓̔̔͗̊̍͘3̪̦̖̠͎͙̓̿̊̃̄5̪͚̥̝̠̣̞͙̱̄͑̈́̒̆̏͡9̧̫̫͍̩̜̟̝͓̔̒̾̊͛̓̕͜͠͠** **.**

 **.** **͎̫̙̦͙̓͐͒̉̎̊̍̍̓͞Ṗ̵̲̭̰̖͓͕̒̇̑̔̂͝l̥̬͎̘̬̼̟̄̎̾͢͝͠ͅẻ̼̘̖̜̪̖̂̾͊̋̅͝ạ̶̯̮̜̲̘̉͌̃́̈͜s̸͇͖̜̠͔̳̳͔̦̗̿̿̋͆͆̽̐̄̏͡ē̡̛͓̮̯̺̫̓̀̐̏ K̸̮̰͈̮͙̖̑̉̀̆̀̃͒̐̕͜͠ṅ̥͇̜̩̟̻̺̄̍̌̀̋̒̚͘͢õ̸̧͓̭̫̖̺̠̣͆̒̋̕͡ċ̡͈̯͙̜̱̮̂̌͆̄̎̕͢k̺̙̣̯͎̱̟̦͍̍̀̋̔̓̋͘͠ B̵̨̳̪̬̪̦̅͛̔̾̓͜͜͞͞ḛ͔̟̳̦̈́̎̿̊̉͒̂̆f̢̦̣̮̯̞̼̮͔̊̓̋̽̔͛̾̽͂͝ͅo̘̱͔͎̺̭͖̒̑͂̎̃͑̃̈̉͝ͅř̶̢̛̛͚̝̩̖͈͖͆̋̎̀̂̋̕e̱̭̠̝̫͓͋͋͑͑͊ Ę̶̺̯͇̙͈̜͑͛̐͐̾̒̌͢͞͝ͅn̵̞̰̰͔̯̔́̍̃̚͢t̷̡̢̖͈̪͌̂̾̓̍͛ḙ̴͚̣̪̟͚́̉̾̃̔͜͠r͙̫͖͕̭̦̬̅̋̆̀̔͑̍́͟ͅi̺̖͔͍̳͓͑̔͛͋͗͆̍̚̚͡n̸̡̢̢̛̻̻͚̦͈͚̜̍̈̑͆̈́̇̂͞͞g̡͓̞͎̭̮̉̔̒͗̇̈͛**

Standing outside gives me a strange sense of deja vu. I was here the other day, wasn't I? Eavesdropping on the twins. Their conversation had been cryptic, disjointed. I can no longer read the writing on the front, but I can imagine what it says. I check Mina's door again. Her name isn't anywhere on it, but there is a room number.

 _300._

Right above the obituary that displayed her brother's name. The number existed on her door, but not on his. So who was it? Mina or her brother? I take one more look at the disjointed and obscure words before I turn around and press my knuckles to the door.

 _*knock*_

 _*knock*_

The sound seems to echo and I fear that someone else on the floor might come out and see me. What if Junpei were to appear in the hall right now? Would he try to kill me? Had he forgiven me yet?

It feels like I've waited several hours before the door finally opens, seemingly by itself into a dimly lit room. I push the door a little wider before stepping further inside.

The door immediately closes behind me.

 _*slam*_

 _*click*_

Ryoji is leaning against it, a sly grin on his face. In front of me is a simple room with almost nothing inside. A giant grand piano takes up a bulk of the floor, leaving barely enough space for a bed pushed off to the corner like an afterthought. An expensive-looking MP3 sits on top next to Mina. A sleek pair of headphones are plugged in. A closet door off to the side is open. Showing off every article of clothing. All of it is plain. Either blue, black or white. Button-ups, jackets or plain t-shirts. Every pair of pants is identical: black jeans. The really intricate stuff is shelved above his clothes.

Headphones of all shapes, sizes, and models sit in a neat line on a shelf. Some are small, almost invisible to the naked eye. Others are large, doubling as ear warmers. An equally diverse set of speakers decorate the shelf right above the first.

Mina is resting on the bed in a set of simple pink pajamas, humming a tune as her brother plays the same melody on the piano. Despite the size, the instrument is surprisingly quiet, and its envelopes the room like a lullaby. They both stop when I come in, turning to look at me, and I'm almost saddened by the end of their song.

"Hello Akira." Mina lets her hair down as she smiles, trying to relax. Her brother does nothing, simply watching me from his seat. He's still dressed in his salary man attire. It's pristine and simple. A charm hangs from his neck, clashing with the rest of his serious attire. A tiny silver harp.

"Hi..." The room is dark, the only light coming from a window that takes up the entire expanse of Minato's back wall. The curtains are thrown open, showing the empty backyard.

None of us say anything, and I'm tempted to try and leave. Ryoji continues to block my exit.

"So..." Mina looks to Minato first, before turning to me, clearly unsure how to begin. "How are you today?"

Minato looks between the two of us, his expression blank. "How many times have you jumped?"

I'm immediately thrown off by this question and judging from Mina's sour expression, she wasn't ready for it either. Just what were they talking about? Like skipping rope or what? "Is this some kind of joke?"

Mina chuckles, and the next time, she speaks it's not at me. "You really weren't kidding..."

"Right? He has no idea." Ryoji moves from the door, to sit on the piano. Minato promptly barks at him to get off, angrier than I thought he was capable. The reality of the situation hits me. "You can see him?!"

Ryoji and Mina laugh. Even Minato is smiling, leaning back to stretch. His hair has been swept aside, and I can see that their faces are similar. Nearly identical. Minato and Ryoj could be twins. Mina pats the seat next to her on the bed. I only hesitate for a second before I join her, carefully avoiding the other objects scattered over the clean sheets.

Mina takes a deep breath, as if preparing herself for a long performance, "You've heard the story, right? The thing about Port Island and the Fall...?" I nod. "It's a lot more complicated than what Navi told you, but I'm not sure where I should start. The beginning is probably the easiest. The three of us were born there."

"The three-" Ryoji shushes me, winking when I turn to look at him.

Mina continues as if I didn't interrupt her. "Port Island was just beginning to start its expansion and our father was a foreman. He oversaw the whole project. Ryoji came first. Minato was second. I'm the youngest." The implication hangs in the air. Triplets. They were triplets. I try to swallow this fact, and it's harder than I could've imagined. I should've known from the beginning. "Ryoji was the oldest so he was the boss. He did everything first. I was the baby and the girl. Everyone spoiled me. Minato is, well, Minato." She smirks, and Minato does the same. Ryoji chuckles into his arm. Her 'brothers'.

"We were a happy family until a car crash killed our parents. It killed me and Ryoji too. That was the first time any of us jumped. Minato went back in time almost 8 hours to try and save us. Our parents wouldn't listen to him though. No matter how much he tried to tell them, no one listened. He did save us though." It's clear she's speaking to me, but she's looking at Minato. Her brother remains quiet. He's not even looking at us. His attention is focused on the keys of his piano, as if the answer to life's greatest mysteries lies between the space of his fingers.

"After that, we were taken to an orphanage. Ryoji got adopted right away, but not me and Minato. We stayed at the orphanage until we were old enough to leave on our own, and guess where we chose to go? That's right, back to Port Island."

"His name is Ryoji Mochizuki. This doesn't make-"

"They changed my name after I was adopted," He interjects, rubbing his face with his hands. "I was born Makoto. Arisato Makoto."

I want to contradict them, but Ryoji shushes me again, and Mina continues her story.

"We didn't see each other again until we were 16. Ten years later. Maybe it was fate but he transferred in the same year we did. The three of us were together again. We didn't tell anyone. Just our little secret. Everything changed with the Fall. January 31st, 2009. Ryoji and Minato were caught in the explosion. My classroom was down the hall, but in the ensuing chaos, someone pushed me down the stairs and I hit my head." She's staring at her brothers, her smile and probably her sanity, gone. "In that moment, I went back in time. About two hours. At first, I thought I was going crazy. I ran out of the classroom to look for Minato. He didn't know a thing. Time traveling is weird. You don't realize someone's skipped time until it catches up with you. Your chest starts hurting, and you realize someone's changed history without knowing what they did or what's different."

I say nothing. There are too many questions and Ryoji would just shush me again. There would be no point.

"I told Minato and he told Ryoji. We needed to save ourselves. That's what Ryoji wanted. The three of us just left, but everyone else died." Her voice is quiet. "I couldn't handle the guilt of that, so I did it again. I went back a little farther. Four hours. This time, I saved everyone except Ryoji."

"But that's okay, because I saved myself." He leans over to kiss her, and she kicks him away, shaking her head sadly.

"Wait, what? You just said Ryoji died. He died in the explosion."

"Time travel." Minato finally speaks, his voice completely dispassionate, as if he expects me to understand with the one answer.

My frustrations boil, and I drench my words with sarcasm. "So what, he's a time traveling ghost? Can you walk through walls too? Does he take ghost panty-shots and sell them on the dark web?"

"Yes." Minato's answer is simple and tart. He starts playing a few notes on his piano, ignoring me as if his one answer should quell all of my questions.

Mina slaps her brother on the arm, but he doesn't even flinch, continuing his song without missing a beat. She turns back to me, her eyes sad. "Listen, I know this is hard to understand, but most time travelers keep their memories when someone else jumps. We just feel a shift in our chest and time keeps moving for us. Our old memories are intact, but we don't know what's different in the new timeline. Think back. Have you ever felt your chest hurting, and then things looked different around you? Like something was wrong but you couldn't remember what happened before?"

My mouth is dry. Yes. A million times, yes. Those blanks in my memory. "Why...? Why don't I remember like the rest of you?"

"Everyone pays a price when they jump. Maybe your price was your memories or the ability to remember?" Mina offers. She shrugs, there is no answer apparently.

But there was. Everything was clicking into place. The dreams. _My dreams._ They weren't dreams. They were memories. Memories from a different timeline. Timelines where my uncle Sojiro died. A timeline where I'd met Yukiko? Did that happen here too? A timeline. Where... Oh god... _I_ died. Where I was _murdered_. Just how many times had I saved myself just seconds before my death. How much had I lost? My voice chokes in my throat. "That- That day at the train station... It was me! I was supposed to die! That lady died because I saved myself!"

Mina and Ryoji are looking at me with pity, and I am thrown into another whirlwind. "You guys knew?! How- Why?! This is crazy!" I move to stand up, but Mina pulls me back down.

"Only time travelers can see me." Ryoji explains, looking down sadly. "It's not as special as it sounds. All the attendants here have the ability, but they pretend not to. They don't use their powers. They don't interfere. They have rules they don't tell anyone about."

"Can Akihiko and the others hear you, feel you, anything like that?"Ryoji shakes his head again, and I'm beginning to understand.

"Why did you make me trade with Navi? You could have just asked them," I point to Mina and Minato, angrily, "and they would have told you the whole story!" My mind flashes to the vision I had of Kanji dead at the foot of the stairs, had that been real too? Dead because I'd betrayed the trust of my friends...? "Kanji died because of you!"

"I didn't mean for that to happen." Ryoji actually looks guilty now, his face growing pale. "The three of us jumped around so much changing the past that none of us were sure which events were real in this timeline. At least he's okay!"

"Yeah, with no help from any of you!" My words are bitter. Was I the one who jumped? Or had it been one of them? Could there possibly be more time travelers at this place? Mina hangs her head, guilty, like a child whose been caught committing a crime. It wasn't her, at the very least.

Minato sighs, standing up to go around his piano. He crawls behind both me and his sister so his back is to us, falling onto his side. "This is pointless. You're setting him up for failure." He's asleep as soon as the last word leaves his lips. His breathing even and slow.

I look at his slumbering body before turning back to Mina and then Ryoji. They're both smiling apologetically.

I don't even care about his odd behavior. If anything, I wanted to go to sleep too. Sleep and forget everything that I'd learned. Forget this entire horrible experience. "What did he mean by that? What are you trying to make me do?"

Mina is looking down, her head bowed in shame. Her eyes dart to Ryoji first, then back to me. Her fingers are fiddling with a simple bracelet on her wrist. It's silver, with a charm hanging off the middle: A silver piano. "We...We want you to go back. Go back with me to 2009. Help me save everyone and clear Ryoji's name."

* * *

 _They're arguing again. That's all they do. Argue. Why won't they stop? Why did they ever get married if they didn't love each other? My mom pushes my dad in the chest, clearly the stronger person in this fight. He stumbles, but catches himself on a chair. He screams again before trying to walk away. My mom grabs his shoulder, turning him around and punching him again. Hard._

 _A bump sits on his face. It will grow bigger later. Darker. Then it will turn yellow and make it hard for him to eat._

 _My mother laughs, her hands on her hips. I only hear one word in the entire argument and it seeps into my bones. ' **Tatsuya'**_

 _Why was it always Tatsuya?_

* * *

I wake up with a jolt.

My room is dark, the barest of light streaming through simple curtains. Everything is normal. Perfectly normal. It's so normal I could almost forget that last night ever happened. I could almost forget the things I'd learned. I walk over to my computer to check the new entries I'd made. Each crazier than the last. Could I trust any of this? What if I was just sinking farther and farther into insanity while my mind tried to convince me otherwise? How could I know anything?

My voice is trembling in the recording, listing the 'facts' back to me. Minato, Mina, and Ryoji were all time travelers. Siblings in fact. Ryoji's real name was Makoto. In an effort to avoid tragedy they kept trying to change history. All three of them paid a price for using their abilities.

That conversation had been especially awkward. Ryoji didn't mind talking about the sacrifices he made every jump. It started small, with physical objects. He'd lost his toys, or his hair. It slowly progressed from there. His sense of taste, smell, and finally, his physical body. Mina wanted me to know the risks I would be taking so she told me about it all. Minato lost his eye. Mina lost her unborn child.

"I didn't notice until Akihiko proposed, actually. He told me he wanted to have kids, so I went for a checkup." Her face is turned away so she's looking out the window. When she turns back to to me, her eyes are closed and the small smile on her face breaks my heart. "I can never have children."

I close my computer, and head to the bathroom. I needed to wash my face.

My morning is spent skipping breakfast. I couldn't face them. Ryoji, Mina, or Minato. I didn't know what to say, or what to do. I didn't want to go back in time. I didn't want to help them. 7 years? Would I need to relive all seven years? Back then I was a ten year old. Would I go back to being ten? Or would I go back as a teenager? How would any of this play out? There were just too many risks. Too many possibilities. What if I went back and ended up like Ryoji?

Instead of trying to find answers, I stay in my room, watering my plants, working the soil with fertilizer, and trimming the leaves. I gather the herbs in small paper pouches for Kanji. The work is familiar and soothing, taking up most of my morning. When I'm done, I feel much calmer, even hungry.

The kitchen is empty when I walk in. The plates have been cleared off, and the tabletops wiped clean. I check the fridge, and it's packed with leftovers from the morning, the night before, and possibly even the lunch before that. I grab a container of what looks like spaghetti and head back to my room.

I never make it there. When I reach the 5th floor common room, Ryuji is waiting for me on the couch. He stands when he sees me, pulling me back down the stairs and out the door. "W-where are we going?" I stutter.

"To battle." I don't even have time to contemplate what he's talking about or put down my breakfast. He drags me out the back door, into the open back yard of the apartments. He puts on a pair of sneakers, and his gloves, giving me just enough time to catch my breath. In the next minute, his punch comes flying at my face. I barely have time to dodge.

"What are you doing?!" I throw up my fists, trying to throw off his next punch. It barely misses my left ear. He doesn't answer me. His movements are a bit slow, but there is weight behind his strikes. Left. Right. Left. Right. His attacks come one right after another, and he reminds me of Akihiko. I do my best to channel what I'd seen of Chie's technique but my recovery is sloppy. I'm out of practice. He grazes my cheek, knocking me off balance.

I take two steps back, moving away to catch my breath. In the span of three seconds, Ryoji lunges for me again, and I find my momentum. I'm barefoot. I can feel the grass under my feet. A tornado whips through my curly uncombed hair as I flip over Ryuji, dodging him by a few millimeters. A breeze caresses the bruise growing on my face. I flow into it, landing on my feet. His surprise gives me the opening I need, and I throw my body into my next jump as I fling myself into him. I'm not strong, but I catch him by surprise. He lands on his back, and I flip off his chest as if it's a balance beam. He's out of breath, clearly winded by my sudden attack, but then he jumps back to his feet, springing onto his toes. He's favoring his right leg.

I grant him the service, knocking into his body from the right so he'll lean to the left. He doesn't see it coming, but his reflexes are good, elbowing me in the rib. He sends me flying off my feet. I land on my palms, doing a backspring into a crouch. Ryuji looks impressed, but he gives me no time to counter. He throws his shoulder low, taking me down. I'm pinned onto the grass by the throat.

I tap the ground three times in surrender. "I give up. I give up. You win."

"Ha! Loser!" He rolls off, laughing on the grass next to me. His arms are spread wide, one of them resting on my chest. "I'm all fired up! Let's go! One more time!"

I shake my head, completely exhausted. "You came out of nowhere! I didn't even get the chance to eat! I'm starving right now."

He looks over at my box of spaghetti sitting on the grass, forgotten. "Oh, sorry. Here." He reaches into his jogging pants, pulling out a fork. I eye him, and then the fork suspiciously. Did he just carry a fork around for no reason? He couldn't possibly have known I would need it. I shake my head, walking back into the apartment and grabbing a metal one from a drawer.

He follows me, pouring us two giant mugs of water. I don't say anything, waiting for him to start the conversation. There was clearly more going on with his life. After a few seconds, he breaks into a grin. "I talked to Chie. I told her about my leg. She was really surprised at first, but then she told Akihiko and they both told me they understood. They weren't disappointed. Can you believe that?"

I could. Easily. They were nice people, and they cared about him. Probably like a little brother. The fact that he opened up to them probably meant more to them than his training. "What did they think you should do?"

"See a doctor. Akihiko took me to see Yukari this morning. She did a couple x-rays on me. She says there's a fracture, and I'll need surgery, but it'll heal. I just gotta take things slow. Go through rehab and all that."

"And you decided to ignore all their advice and fight me?!"

"No. At first I actually, kind of wanted to tell Ann. She was that girl I told you about... but when I called her, she told me she was busy and hung up. I don't know. I was pissed off." He sighs, and a part of me wonders how he truly felt about her. Was she really just an old friend?

Ryuji shakes his head. Changing the subject. "Can you come with me for the surgery next week? They're putting metal plates in my leg. I'm going to be a cyborg!" He's laughing, but I can tell he's a little nervous, so I nod and let him ramble while I eat. His body begins to relax, leaning back in his chair. The smile on his face is so wide, his cheeks are probably hurting.

I finish my "breakfast", (it was almost 4pm at this point), and get up to wash the container. Ryuji puts a hand on my shoulder, and his smile is a little smaller, sympathetic. "Go back to gymnastics. You've still got it in you. Those jumps you did earlier were sick."

I say nothing. During that fight, I'd felt the desire to go back. There was a certain freedom in gymnastics that you couldn't find anywhere else. It almost made me feel like I could float. As if I could throw myself into the air, and never come down. In that fight, I hadn't been afraid of anything. My only thought was beating Ryuji, and there was freedom in that too. "Maybe..."

"No maybe. It's a promise. I do this surgery and go back to running. You beat your anxiety and go back to gymnastics. Then we'll come back and fight again and I'll beat you in top form." He throws his arm up, as if asking me to arm wrestle, and I realize he's asking me to shake his arm. Did this makes us partners? Equals? Rivals?

I shake it, immediately feeling childish, but happy. We walk back to our rooms, and he tells me to call him later for dinner. I agree, turning the door to my own room, only belatedly realizing that it's unlocked.

I stumble in, surprised, only to be even more shocked to see a figure sleeping on my bed. Minato is slouching against the wall while his MP3 player lies on his stomach. It rises and falls with even breaths. A pair of earbuds are plugged in, hidden underneath his hair. I take a few tentative steps, closing the door quietly behind me. He doesn't react. His eyes are closed. Probably asleep. I edge a little closer.

The floor creaks, but he still doesn't move. Was he dead? He couldn't be, right? He was clearly breathing. I gently shake his shoulder and he opens his eyes to look at me. Now that I'd gotten used to the scar, it wasn't all that grotesque. Most of it was hidden by his hair, but even with it in full view, it wasn't that bad. It gave him more of a cool loner edge which was already working for him.

He sighs before sitting up, leaning on his knees. Everything around him screams exhaustion. There are heavy shadows under his one visible eye, and he looks ready to collapse any moment. I'm ready to ask him how he got in, when he starts speaking. "Don't go back." I almost ask him what he's talking about when I realize that's a stupid question. Back in time with Mina. He didn't want me to go back?

"Why not?" I take a seat in my chair and turn my phone on record.

"If you don't go, Mina won't."

There's much more to be said here, but Minato doesn't speak again. Why was this man so frustrating? He wasn't exactly a stoic, but he was damn close. "What about Ryoji?"

"He can't get his body back." He moves from my bed, and I see that his shirt is perfectly ironed, despite having just woken up. He didn't look the type to do something like that. Mina then, maybe? The two of them seemed close, and I'm suddenly struck with a strange sense of jealousy. What was it like to have a sibling? To have someone match you and compensate for your flaws? Someone to fight with, or care for you and care for in return?

Minato walks to my window, throwing away the curtains to look outside. I had a view of the front lawn. Several people were returning home from work. I could distinctly see Naoto's almost entirely blue outfit. He turns to look at me, as if waiting for me to say something. The compulsion works.

"How did you get in here?" The fact that both he and Ryoji could just walk in whenever they wanted was beginning to irk me. I locked my room. Always. I even double-checked my lock twice every time I left to make sure. It was borderline OCD.

"Elizabeth opened it for me." I don't ask him who Elizabeth is or why she would do this for him. He doesn't seem like the type to want to explain either.

"So you really don't want me to go back, even though we could save Ryoji? Isn't he your brother?"

"No." And in that moment I don't know what he's answering. Was he telling me that I shouldn't go back , that we couldn't save Ryoji or that Ryoji wasn't his brother? I didn't know. The triplets were so different. How in the world had the three of them come from the same set of parents, at the same time no less?

It takes many minutes of silence and despite his tart replies and completely unfriendly posture, I find a connection. There's a glimmer of emotion shinning in his eye that I recognize. It's an emotion that I've felt almost every day since the time skips started seven years ago: Fear. A fear for his sister, who was probably throwing her life away for a mission he thought was impossible. "Ryoji wants Mina to go, doesn't he..."

It's in this moment that I recognize another emotion too, and I begin to understand this man a little better. He wasn't good at expressing himself. He didn't take care of his appearance. He was always tired. He loved music, but more importantly, he loved his sister. He wanted to protect Mina against the threat in front of him. Even if that threat was their older brother."Yes."

* * *

 **Stat Progression in this chapter: Minako Bond up. Minato Bond up. Ryoji Bond up. Ryuji Bond up. Agility up. Strength up.**

 **[Flag] Hunt Yukiko down to talk [Requirements not met: Yukiko BX4** **{Not Met:3},**

 **[Free time]** **Akira has some free time tomorrow. What should he do with it?**

 **You have unlocked the Permanent Quest Flag. These flags are available routes you may begin at any time. There are no requirements. If a majority of comments wish to start the route, it will begin. However, there are recommendations to make the routes easier to complete.**

 **[Permanent Quest Flag] Go back in time to Port Island to clear Ryoji's name. [Recommendations: Minako BX6 {Not Met:4}, Lavenza BX6 {Not Met:4} OR Minato** **BX6** **{Not Met: 3}, AND Knowledge x8 {Not Met: 7}**

 **Your actions have shifted Navi's Sale.** **Ann's location** **[Required: Minako's Secret {Met}] If you do not acquire Ann's location this chapter, her bond will be permanently lost.**


	9. Scaling the Tower (1)

**Requirements not met. Route 2 Bypassed.**

 **Sequence commencing...**

* * *

 _"Run!" Ryuji is standing in front of me, his blond hair billowing in the wind. I have never seen him like this before._ _This tall, this brave. He is a hero. "Run!"_

 _Something (or someone) is on my back. It's heavy. Heavier than I think I can carry. Ryuji lifts the burden off_ _and I can see that the weight is a young woman. She is quite pretty, with the face of a foreigner and hair like spun_ _gold. It's nothing at all like the dyed blond that is Ryuji's spiky cut._

 _I try to run alongside him, but even without the girl slowing me down, I can't keep up. Ryuji pulls at my_ _arm, refusing to leave me behind. "Get up!" Without waiting for me to respond, he throws the girl back_ _onto my shoulders, pushing me down the street._

 _"I'll distract him. You keep going," I turn to look at him, bewildered, but he is committed to his new plan,_ _standing with his arms raised in a defensive position. He turns around to urge me again. "I said GO!"_

* * *

I jolt awake, my heart pounding a million miles a minute. My back is soaked in sweat, as if I've just run a marathon. The dream stands apart from anything I can remember, but it's also like all the others. Too realistic and coherent to just be a dream.

My phone is sitting on my desk. 6:16am. I make another entry, the act growing ever more familiar. While I missed writing, there would be no going back. Besides, recording had plenty of benefits. It was a lot faster, and I could voice all of my questions at the end. _In what timeline did that dream happen? How does it end? Who jumped? Was it me? If it was, what did I lose?_

I put my phone down to get ready for the day.

The dinning room is bustling with activity when I arrive. Akihiko is chatting with Naoto, likely having just returned home from work while the latter prepares to leave. Souji is slumped over on the table, asleep. Rise is watching him from across the room, her face pulled into a frown. She offers me a small smile when I walk in.

There are plenty of people to sit with, but I choose an empty seat a little off to the side. It doesn't take long for Minato to join me. His long hair is uncombed, falling into place by sheer habit. It hides his scar and damaged eye perfectly.

The day after our secret conversation, he took it upon himself to follow me around. His 'official' reason, as far as his sister was concerned, was to get to know me better before the mission. I was almost 90% sure he was just trying to keep an eye on me. He only left me alone now if he was called in for work or if I needed to use the bathroom. Some days, he even slept in my bed, much to Ryuji's growing discomfort.

The afternoon after our sparring match, Ryuji invited me to his room to talk about a new training regimen. Minato followed me, falling asleep on Ryuji's bed without even bothering to greet our host. My friend was more than a bit confused.

"Why is he here?"

"Honestly, I'm not really sure…"

Ryuji quirked his eyebrow at me, his look simply screaming: _Are you serious?_ "Why don't you just tell him to leave?"

I mimiced his expression, shooting the sarcasm right back at him. "Why don't you...? It's your room."

Ryuji sighed, clearly against the idea. "Is he cool at least? He won't like, tell us to go study or something, will he?"

The idea of Minato telling us to do anything so preposterous made me burst out into laughter. Ryuji shushed me, and I immediately shut up, checking behind us to make sure my abrupt cackle didn't wake the somber man. No movement whatsoever. He was probably the heaviest sleeper to ever exist. "No. He's really… Just no."

True to my impression, he hadn't done anything even remotely controlling. We were well on five days since that conversation, and Minato barely said anything at all. He worked quite often, and at odd hours. His pager (a device I didn't even know existed until he showed me how it worked) would often beep with short messages, requiring his urgent attention. Often times, he would disappear after a phone call only to reappear several hours later looking haggard.

It didn't matter if I was studying with Kanji, Haru, and Makoto, training with Akihiko and Chie, relaxing with Ryuji, or just walking around the apartment, if Minato was at home, he was always close by. However, despite his constant presence, he wasn't all that creepy or intrusive. He rarely said a word, but people often talked at him. Haru and Makoto in particular spent a couple hours after a study session asking him various random questions about business, law and life in general. While he said nothing, the two of them seemed to find the answers to their questions anyway. Kanji and I ended up laughing about it later.

This morning, the two of us ate our meal in comfortable silence. Mina would often join us for lunch and dinner, but she usually skipped breakfast. Despite her brother's quiet nagging, she claimed that she was too tired for food after work. In her place, a few girls from the third floor came by to talk to the silent man (a common occurrence). At the sight of me though, they kept the conversation short. One girl in particular, Yukari, seemed especially disgusted with me.

"Did I do something to her?" She'd almost sat down next to Minato before she saw me across the table, and her expression immediately darkened, turning into a fierce glare. At the moment, she was on the other side of the room, sitting across from Akihiko and Naoto.

Minato shook his head, his behavior taciturn as usual, but after our many hours together, I was beginning to learn to read between the lines. _It's nothing **you** did._

"Ryoji, then?" He shrugged. _Sorta. You know what happened._

So it was **that** after all. Almost everyone on the third floor had been injured during the Fall. Mina explained that while their time skips did save their classmates from dying, the explosions set the school on fire, and many people were burned while trying to escape.

I look over to Yukari, and her face is quite pretty. It wasn't a regal beauty like Yukiko, or a ditzy character like Mina, but she had the charms of a high school princess. "She doesn't look like she was injured."

"Plastic surgery."

"Ahh…" I lapse back into silence, our conversation seemingly over. His pager beeped multiple times during breakfast, and he walked off each time to make a call, or send a message on a sleek silver phone.

I'm making a breakfast plate for Ryuji when Chie rushes in, as unprepared as always. I tap her on the shoulder.

"Who—Oh hey. What's up?" She jumps a little to grab four containers from a top shelf.

"Do you need some help?"

"No, I'm fine." She hurries over to the meal table, filling up all four containers to the brim. I follow her.

"You're going to eat all that by yourself?"

"No. Two of these are for Yukiko. I'm going to bring them to her on the way to work. She's been skipping meals lately."

I let the words sink in. Skipping meals. I'd spent several days looking for her so we could talk, but I hadn't seen her anywhere. We weren't close enough that I could go to her room, and the fact that she was avoiding me was becoming clearer every minute. "Is she…Is she okay?"

Chie pauses in her flurry of activity, her eyes turning on me like a hawk. She didn't strike me as an incredibly smart person, but in that moment, Chie's attention was focused and I was hit with the sense that she understood much more than she was letting on. "Akira… What do you remember about Inaba?"

Absolutely nothing. I'd heard the name several times since moving in, but it triggers nothing. No memories. No visions.

Before I have the time to lie, Chie shakes her head. "Never mind. Forget I said anything. Will you be at the hospital tomorrow?"

I'm not quite ready to let the conversation go, but have nothing to add. _Inaba…_ Maybe I would look into that next, but I already had so much on my plate. Soon, all these mysteries would overwhelm me. One thing at a time. Ryuji first.

"I'll be there. What about you?"

"I'm taking the day off, so yeah. Akihiko will too, but I think that's gonna be it. Ryuji doesn't have that many friends around here. He tries, but… well... he's really bad at NOT pissing people off." Chie shrugs. "If you think of anyone else, let me know."

She runs off, leaving me alone with my thoughts. While I wanted to understand my situation with Yukiko, Ryuji took precedence. His surgery was tomorrow, after all. I finish loading Ryuji's plate with food before walking back up to the fifth floor. Haru and Makoto are sitting around the coffee table, working on some homework.

University was tough. Their semester even started earlier. I do my best to quietly tiptoe past them.

Yusuke's door is open, his room a dedication to painting. His bed hangs from the ceiling while plastic wrap covers his walls and floor. Canvas is strewn haphazardly around the room. The man himself is leaning over a painting when I walk by. We didn't talk much, but he seemed like a nice guy. I bow slightly on the way to my destination.

Ryuji's room is between ours, and the door is swung open, releasing a strange combination of aromas into the hall. "Ryuji?" He's lying on the floor, shirtless and immobile. His eyes are open and listless as they stare at the ceiling. "What are you doing?"

"Questioning life." He answers simply, completely serious. I roll my eyes, handing him his breakfast. His room is a complete mess as it always is, and I sweep a pile of unfinished homework off to the side so I have somewhere to sit.

I rest my eyes for a bit while he eats, joined shortly after by Minato. The man says nothing when he walks in and throws himself onto Ryuji's bed, asleep in mere minutes. The owner of the room doesn't question it anymore either. Even **he** had gotten used to the quiet intruder's presence.

After Ryuji finishes stuffing his face, he puts the plate onto a growing tower of dirty dishes that sits on the floor near the head of his bed. It shakes precariously, barely holding steady. Falling back onto the hardwood floor, he spreads his arms wide. "What if I die tomorrow?"

I resist the urge to roll my eyes again. "You're having surgery on your ankle and shin. You're not going to die."

He sits back up, grabbing my arms so he can shake me. "But what if something goes wrong?! What if they forget something and the surgery equipment goes crazy and chops off my leg so I bleed to death?! What'll happen to me?"

I shrug. I wasn't particularly religious. My parents were a bit, but I didn't go to church or trust in any kind of afterlife. I kind of wanted to believe in reincarnation, but that was from a personal desire be a tree in my next life.

"Maybe you'll turn into a ghost or something. Then you can sneak into the girls bathroom."

He continues to shake me, "I'm serious! I've never even had a girlfriend, and I won't get the chance to kiss someone or have… you know." He mimes sticking a finger into a hole and it takes all of my self-control not to throw my face into my hands in exasperation.

"Use a rubber glove."

The two of us swivel around in shock. Minato is still turned away from us, leaning on his side in sleep, but there is no question where that statement came from. Ryuji voices my thoughts exactly, "Uh…what?"

There's no response from the perpetrator. Even his breathing indicates that he's asleep: A slow, even rhythm. Ryuji turns to me, utterly confused, "Dude…did I imagine that?"

"No…I heard it too. Maybe we're both crazy."

The two of us do a few more spontaneous checks on Minato, but he doesn't speak again. I go back to Ryuji, sitting cross-legged in front of him. "What about that girl you like? Ann."

"I don't like her!" His face is flushed, red from top to bottom. Definitely a crush then, if nothing else. "We're just friends! I've known her since we were six! Besides, I don't even know where she is. Her room is empty."

"Didn't you say she was living with her new boyfriend? Who is he?"

"Yeah. They've been together for a month-ish? Since the start of summer vacation, but I don't know who he is. She wouldn't tell me."

"Ask Navi."

This time we're sure it's Minato, and our heads nearly snap as we twist around to face him. He's turned toward us now, his hair flowing down to reveal his one, clear eye.

My voice is sharp and accusatory when I ask, "How long have you been listening?"

He shrugs. _Long enough._

"Whose Navi?" Ryuji chimes in.

I ignore the wave of smugness radiating off of Minato so I can focus on Ryuji. "Some kind of information broker in 509."

"Do we need to pay him?"

Disgust rises in the pit of my stomach at the thought of trading with him again. The ugly vision of Kanji dead at the foot of the stairs was still imprinted clearly in my mind. The big guy was okay in this timeline, but that brought no tranquility. He'd died once because of me. "You can swap information. I don't really recommend it."

"Why not?" Ryuji doesn't wait for me to answer, running over to his phone. A girl picks up on the second ring, her voice groggy. "What do you want?"

"Navi…?" Ryuji turns to me, confusion painting all of his features.

"Oh shi—" There's some fumbling on the other end, before the voice changes back to the gravelly tone I'm so familiar with. "Yes. That was my sister just now. What do you want?"

"I want to know about Ann Takamaki in 506. Who she's dating, where she is. Everything." The word everything hangs in the air, and I'm tempted to ask Ryuji if that's really necessary.

The man (or more likely, little girl) on the side of the phone yawns."That's a lot of information and it's going to be expensive."

"I don't have any money."

"Do you have any information? I've got an old request pending on Mina. If you can tell me why she started working at a host club I can tell you everything you want to know. "

"I don't—"

"Then no deal. Don't bother me if you don't have anything worth my time."

"WAIT! Wait." Ryuji runs over to Minato, bowing to the man who was so clearly feigning sleep. "Help me!" Ryuji screams. Then he catches my eye and lowers his volume by a few notches. "Sir..."

Minato watches him, his expression blank before turning to look at me. His grey eyes are sharp, like they can pierce into my soul. "The baby."

"Huh, baby? What baby?" Ryuji looks like he wants to shake the man, but he doesn't, thankfully. His head swivels between Minato and me, begging one of us to explain.

Minato moves so he's sitting up on Ryuji's bed, looming above me. "The baby..." he says again, and his eyes speak the rest. _Mina didn't dump Akihiko. She joined a host club literally weeks before he proposed. Why?_

It's almost as if he's speaking directly into my mind. Mina's baby. The baby, she lost while she was jumping through time. That is the answer to everything. I just needed to connect it to Navi's question.

Minato watches me as if he can hear my thoughts, telling me the answer without saying a word. _Follow the trail of logic._

"Mina...wanted Akihiko to break up with her." He nods, the smallest, slightest dip of the head any man is capable of. _Correct._

There's a loud, rambunctious laugh on the other end of the line, and I immediately want to hang up, but Ryuji's face is too hopeful. I couldn't bare to do that to him. Navi isn't quite as kind. "That's not really an answer. Anyone could make up something like that."

Minato is still watching me, but a small smile lights his face. **Pride?** Was he proud of himself, or even more surprising, could he be proud of me? His eyes continue to egg me on, goading me to the answer. _Very good. Why would my stupid sister want him to dump her? Why would she hurt herself like that?_

"Guilt! She felt guilty for losing their baby! And she couldn't have another one so, oh shi-" I'm screaming into the phone, as the realization comes to me. At this point, I'm ignoring the person on the other side. Minato is the only person I see and the smile on his face grows just the tiniest bit wider. _Nailed it._

"...What?! She was pregnant?! Did she have an abortion or a miscarriage?! Source, I need a source. You could be lying, and I can't back it without a reliable name."

Navi's shock brings me back to the present and I freeze. What have I done? I couldn't go back now. I'd already revealed too much. The source was Mina herself. I'd learned most of what I needed to know from our conversation the night they'd pulled me into their room, but I couldn't just say her name. Navi wouldn't accept that. Myself? That wouldn't work either. Navi would say I was pulling rain out of thin air. "I-"

Minato snatches the phone out of my hand. "Me. Minato Arisato. I'm his source."

There is dead silence in the room. None of us moves. Even Navi is silent, surprised by the sudden turn of events. Ryuji is sitting on the floor, his mouth open in awe, staring at Minato as if he's feasting his eyes on the face of a God.

"I-Well. Okay. Well, uh... What do you want to know then?" All the bravado and mischief seems to have been sucked out of Navi's voice, and she seems more demure. Like a child caught in a prank.

Minato hands the phone back to Ryuji before lying down again and closing his eyes, as if the short conversation took all the life out of him. Ryuji is too shocked to say anything, and I begin to fear that Navi may hang up before she fulfills her end of the bargain.

I tap Ryuji's shoulder, shaking him out his stupor and point to the phone. His voice is too loud when he speaks, almost yelling. "Ann Takamaki. Who is she seeing? Where is she? I want to get her a message."

"I'm not a courier pigeon. Just send her a text. Geez. It's 2016." Navi laughs, a weak attempt to gain back her bravado. I look over to the most-likely-not-sleeping blue-haired man. He had a strange effect on people. Not unlike his siblings. The three of them were something special, even without their mysterious abilities.

"Anyway, Ann Takamaki... Let's see... It's pretty scandalous. She's dating one of her teachers... Suguru Kamoshida. He's her-" The phone slips from Ryuji's grip, falling onto the floor with a bang.

Minato bolts up, clearly surprised, but my attention is focused on Ryuji. His face is pale, so pale that he looks like he might pass out at any moment. His hand is hanging in midair, frozen in his shock. I glance over at Minato, but he just shakes his head. _Don't look at me. He's **your** friend._

"Ryuji... Are you okay?" I put my hand on his shoulder, and that seems to wake him from his stupor. He grabs my arms, shaking me with all his strength.

"Kamoshida! She's with KAMOSHIDA!" Rage pours out of his voice. He's glaring at me, unseeing. I don't exist. "That ASSHOLE destroyed my leg! He FRAMED me for assault! He almost got me EXPELLED! MY MOM IS COMATOSE BECAUSE OF HIM!" He shoves me with all his strength into a wall before grabbing the phone off the floor.

"Where is he..." The threat is immediately present in his voice. I know that the moment he finds this man's address, everything will end.

Navi gives it to him and Ryuji inputs it into his phone. It's outside of town. More than a 4 hour walk or at the very least, an hour on the bus. "Is she with him right now..."

There's a low hum on the other end while Navi delays her answer. When it comes, something inside Ryuji seems to break. "...Yes."

The room is quiet. Minato and I watch Ryuji as if he might explode at any second. He doesn't. The only thing he does is grab his keys as he prepares to leave. I grab his arm to stop him. Did he plan on biking the 11 miles to get to this guy's house?

I turn to the only adult in the room for some sort of guidance. Minato gives me nothing, as quiet as hes always been. I ask for something else instead, "Can you give us a ride?"

The introverted man's only response is to stand up and walk out the door.

* * *

It takes about five minutes for him to get into Mina's room, take her car keys, and then prepare to leave. Ryuji doesn't bring anything with him, but I'm more careful. The first day I met Ryuji, I saw his skull in a vision. There had to be a reason, but my dreams did nothing to clear up the mystery.

I grab four combat knives from my drawer and stuff them into various pockets.

None of us says a word, but Minato's pager is buzzing constantly, as if trying to build up the tension. The hour car-ride feels like a lifetime. When we pull up outside a large, upscale apartment building, Ryuji immediately rushes for the car handle but Minato locks us in, turning around to face us.

"Get back on your own." _I need to go. Be careful._

Dread creeps into my system. A 4 hour walk, with no car, no bike, and if my dreams were to be trusted, a girl to carry. A plan, we needed a plan. I grab Ryuji's arm to keep him from running out of the car while I asked Minato a final question. "Have we met before, in a different timeline?"

His grey eye seems to glow, and his lips almost twitch into a smile. With a slight nod of his head, Minato unlocks the door and kicks the two of us out.

 _Yes._

Ryuji rushes past the protective gate, only to be stopped by the large glass doors of the building. They're the automatic, sliding kind, but they don't open with our presence. A guard is sitting behind a desk just beyond the doors where there is another pair of sliding doors leading further into the complex. The guard eyes us with suspicion.

I pull Ryuji away from the entrance, doing a walk around the building. The walls were made entirely of brick. While it was surrounded by a metal grated fence, there was plenty of space to hide in the bushes that surrounded the building. There are balconies on every floor, an easy jump if I got a boost or vice versa, but I couldn't scale the entire building this way.

"What room are we trying to get to?"

"66. Should be on the sixth floor."

An impossible climb without the equipment. What could we do? How could we get to her? What if Kamoshida was in the room?

I turn to Ryuji, "Tell me everything you know about Kamoshida."

* * *

 **You have started Ryuji's Quest: Lovers.** **You have completed Task One. [4]**

 **Stat Progression in this chapter: Minato, Ryuji, Kanji, Mina, Haru, Makoto, Chie, Akihiko, bond up. Strength up. Agility up. Durability up. Knowledge up. You have paused the adventure. Notable stats up to this point.**

 **Knowledge:** **7 (Very intelligent.)**

 **Strength: 4 (Fit, but not quite athletic. Can't bench press more than 20kg.)**

 **Agility** **: 6 (Fast reflexes. Can't dodge bullets, but can do most gymnastic maneuvers.)**

 **Durability** **: 5 (Will live from a two story fall. Will not survive a beating from an Olympic Volleyball Player)**

 **Friendships acquired : (Bond 5+) Ryuji (6), Kanji (5), and Minato (5)**

 **Ryuji Sakamoto (Captain Kidd) and Suguru Kamoshida's stats at this point are the same as they are in Persona 5 at their base. Should you choose to engage in battle, please keep this in mind.**

 **[Flag] What do you do about Ann? [Requirements: A plan. Any player may put forth ONE plan. However, if Akira's stats do not meet the requirements for your plan, it will not be executed. Example: You can't walk all the way home because your durability is too low. Such a feat would require a stat of at least 8] The plans of several players may be combined. However, if none of the plans are viable, this route will be discarded and the boys will return home.**

 **Navi's Sale is currently inactive.**

 **Game saved. Any time skips that occur within the next two chapters will bring you back to the end of this chapter**

 **[Permanent Quest Flag] Currently inactive.**


	10. Scaling the Tower (2)

**Players: Lilli and Metal Vile input processed.**

 **Sequence commencing...**

* * *

It took a lot of effort to convince Ryuji to leave. At first, he wouldn't budge. We were standing around for nearly ten minutes scouting the area, when a guard came out to confront us. It required some fast-talking on my part to convince him we were looking for someone, and simply unsure of which room she lived in. I informed the guard, a Tadashi Nikaido, that we would be back later.

It was almost three in the afternoon now. The two of us sat in a Pizza Hut trying to formulate a plan. It was too early in the day for a normal person to be home from work, but the Velvet Apartments taught me that a lot of people didn't work normal schedules. Any number of things could go wrong and we had nowhere near enough information. "So lets get started."

Ryuji told me everything he knew about Kamoshida while I looked up his information on Youtube. There were dozens of interviews on nearly every platform. Apparently the guy was famous. He was the PE teacher at Shujin, but he was also once an Olympic Volleyball Player. After winning the gold in 2012, he'd undergone a botched surgery, forcing him to retire at seventeen. Two years later, he started working at Shujin as an assistant coach. The full-time PE teacher was mysteriously injured three months later, forcing the old man out of commission.

"Kamoshida more or less runs Shujin now. The principal listens to everything he says. Dozens of people reported him when he first got the job, but Principal Kobayakawa doesn't care. Doesn't listen to what anyone says. No one even bothers complaining anymore. Shit's pointless."

"You said he broke your leg, what happened?"

Ryuji is quiet, his eyes hard. For a moment, they seem to shift colors, changing to red, and I'm reminded of my cannibal. I quickly shake the thought away. Impossible. It was impossible. It couldn't be Ryuji.

He reaches for his phone and when he unlocks it, I can see that his background is a selfie. He pulls up the original on his camera roll and I'm a little stunned. Ryuji is on the left, winking into the camera. On the right is the blond foreign girl from my dream, presumably Ann. In the middle is a small, demure-looking girl with dark hair tied back into a ponytail. There's a small smile on her face, but dark bags ring her eyes. Her skin seemed to be flaking in several places, signs indicating she wasn't sleeping well. Telltale signs I was more than familiar with.

There are speckles of snow falling all around them but they're each holding a crepe, the ice cream perfectly maintaining its shape. "Her name was Shiho. She killed herself four months ago."

Something in me goes blank, as if I've forgotten the meaning of words. _She killed herself_. What did that mean? She killed herself? So she was dead? _Dead_. Did she regret it? Or was she glad to be free from the touch of whatever had driven her to despair? Did she think about her family? Her friends? Or were they simply a drop in the ocean of madness? Insanity. I unconsciously pull on the hem of my shirt.

"She'd been avoiding us for weeks. Ann cornered her one day after school, and found bruises everywhere. Her arms and legs were purple. Black, pretty much. There was a cast around her knee. She didn't tell us a thing, but I could guess what happened. Kamoshida liked to hit the players on the volleyball team. He did it to a lot of the guys. I knew someone who was out of school for a week with a fracture."

"Shiho didn't want us to know. That only pissed me off more. I literally ran to the gym during practice to kick his ass. Do you know what he did?" Ryuji's grip on his soda tightens. The can breaks apart, the edge of the tin slicing into his hand. A small stream of blood trails down his skin but he doesn't even seem to notice. Ryuji's eyes are far away, staring into the table, "The fucker laughed... He told me the bruises were nothing. He...He said..." Ryuji swallows, and I can see him force the anger down. "He said he'd destroyed her in other places too."

"I lost it. I wanted to kill him. I got one swing in before he jumped me. He shattered the bones in my leg. He probably would've broken the other one too if Shiho and Ann didn't drag me from the gym. They took me to the ER. The doc patched me up, but the results were ugly. My mom took one look at me and passed out. Hasn't woken up since. My dad took her to Finland for treatment but nothing works. Shiho jumped from the school rooftop the next day..."

A tear rolls down his face, followed by another, and then another. He's looking down, staring into the table at whats left of our meal. I don't know what to say. I don't know how to comfort him. All I can do it sit, and stare. He'd always seemed so carefree. Who knew he had all thiss heartbreak pent up inside him? "Ryuji..."

"I couldn't protect her... Not my mom. Not Shiho. She needed my help and I did nothing! I let her die!" He's screaming, pounding the table with his hands. The other patrons stare at us, clearly disturbed, but too afraid to do anything. I throw my arm over Ryuji's shoulder, trying my best to quiet him. It doesn't work. The tears continue to fall. "I can't let anything happen to Ann. Shit, I'll kill him this time if I have to..."

* * *

It's a little past 4:30 when we leave, shooed out by the manager. Ryuji has more or less calmed down. Anger is simmering just below the surface, but his eyes are dry. We didn't talk about the episode. Now was a time for action, and I'd formulated a plan.

As we scout the surrounding neighborhood, I call Kanji while I start explaining the basics to Ryuji, "I'll do most of the work. If Kamoshida sees you, the whole thing falls apart. There's no way he won't recognize you." Ryuji nods in agreement, his face pulled into a frown.

Kanji answers on the third ring. There's the chatter of people talking in the background, distorting his voice, "Hello?"

"Hey. We need your help with something. Are you free?"

Someone is shouting something at him, and he seems to respond to them before answering me, "I'm at a faculty party right now. It's probably going to last until about 7 tonight. What do you need?"

I sigh, calculating the time in my head. That was cutting it close. People returning from work would make it harder to break in. "Nothing. We just needed a ride in an hour or two."

"Sorry man. Wish I could help. Anything else you need?"

"Is Mr. Kamoshida with you right now?"

There's a pause on the other line while Kanji seems to be walking around and asking his co-workers a couple questions. A few minutes later, he's back to me, "Doesn't look like he's here. Why are you asking? He's not the nicest guy. Avoid him if you can."

I thank Kanji for his help before hanging up the phone. Bad, this was bad. "Kanji's at a faculty party and Kamoshida isn't there."

"So he's home?" Ryuji's face is stony, prepared for the worst outcome.

"Probably." I pull out my phone again, checking Google Maps for a few minutes before I find what I'm looking for.

About thirty minutes later, we're walking back to the apartment with a simple red cap on my head and an empty box of pizza in my hands. I order Ryuji to wait outside, hidden in some bushes below a balcony a little to the left of the main entrance. There are plenty of windows. If one of the residents just looked outside, he'd be spotted in no time at all. I walk up to the glass doors, waiting for them to slide open. The guard behind the desk is someone new. Lady luck was on our side.

"Can I help you?"

"Pizza delivery for Suguru Kamoshida?" I pretend to look at the receipt in my hand. "Suite 66."

The guard walks behind the desk, dialing a number into the phone. It rings twice before the man of the hour answers, and I finally hear his voice. It's deep, callous, obviously the voice of a grown man. There is anger raging inside me from Ryuji's story and I try my best to quell it. If I wasn't calm, there's no way Ryuji could be. I needed a clear head. This needed to work.

"There's a pizza delivery here for you, sir."

"I didn't order any pizza. Send him away." He promptly hangs up, and the guard looks at me apologetically. "Sorry, but you heard him. Must be some kids playing a prank."

I sigh, finishing the part. "Yeah. Happens a lot. Sorry to bother you."

The guard dips his head in a small bow while I walk out, dodging into the bushes next to Ryuji. "How'd it go?"

"He's home. Plan B." I hand him two of my knives and a sense of unease shoots up my spine. I push it away. Now wasn't the time to second guess my choices.

We crawl further around the building onto the other side where the road is sloped up, leading into a parking garage attached to the building. Another guard is sitting inside a stand.

"Why do you have these?" Ryuji is eyeing my knives suspiciously, flipping them around to examine them from all angles.

I think about my answer before I respond. After running away from my cannibal the first time Uncle Sojiro died, I'd felt defenseless. Weak. Guns were almost impossible to come by in Japan, so I'd started collecting knives. You could buy them online very easily. Before I knew it, I'd built a small collection. I never used them, but they made me feel safe. Placebo effect. "Self-defense. I was... robbed. Once. A long time ago."

He nods, and I call him on my phone so we have a connection going. He uses his good leg as a step and I move quickly, stepping on his thigh. I'm a few inches short when I try to reach for the ledge. Ryuji moves his hands up, holding my legs on his shoulders as he stands up. I jump for the last two inches I need, using the railing like a vault. I stick the landing and immediately crouch low on the balcony, pulling out my phone to check on Ryuji.

"Are you okay?" I whisper. There's some rustling from down below and I can imagine Ryuji get up.

"Fine. Good luck, bro." He whispers back.

"You too. Stay safe." I secure the phone back into my pocket while I check the door of the balcony. It's the glass sliding type where the lock is on the inside. I put a bit of pressure on the door and it doesn't budge. No dice then. The balcony is boxed in, separated from its neighbor on the left by a solid wall.

I peek over the top, checking to make sure the coast is clear before I climb onto the ledge. I'm not very high up, but the platform is thin. A balance beam. This is just a balance beam. I've done this a million times. I could walk a platform like this with my eyes closed.

I press my face against the wall separating me from the next balcony. There's nothing to hang onto, but I grab the wall in front of me, hugging it with all my strength as I move my leg onto the ledge on the other side. No handles. No dropmat. I push off the wall, propelling the rest of my body onto the second balcony. I jump from the ledge onto landing, crouched low.

I'd made it. I was alive. I could do this. I wasn't worthless.

The second landing is almost identical to the first. Clean, boxed in by walls on both sides. I try the door again. Locked. I curse under my breath and climb back onto the ledge. There's sweat on my hands, making them sticky. If I fell, I wouldn't die, but my parents would be furious. Dad would lock me away to keep me safe, even if that "safe" was inside an asylum. I move onto the landing, working the door.

 _Whoosh._

It slides open and I nearly fall inside, too relieved to think about the incredible luck involved. I grab my phone to send a message to Ryuji. "I'm in."

There is no sound on the other end. A good sign. It meant he was still in the garage. The apartment is empty as far as I can tell. It's clean, but cluttered. Packed to the brim with books and unfinished plastic models. I try my best to walk around them, wiping my face with my sleeve. A stack of dirty dishes sit in the sink. I move through the living room quickly, headed for the front door. A few pictures furnish the area around me. A middle-aged couple is depicted in a photograph with a black-haired baby in the woman's arms.

The hallway outside is carpeted. A dark blue, almost black. The walls are a soft tan, bare. No cameras. I wedge the door open while I check the other doors I can see. There are only 7. A door next to the elevator leads to the stairs. Nothing that leads to the parking garage. I send Ryuji a text with what I hope is the right information and wait.

Seconds turn to minutes.

One.

Two.

Four.

Seven.

Twelve.

Eighteen.

Twenty-Five.

Nothing. Our phone call has long since ended and Ryuji doesn't answer me when I try again. Panic rises in my chest. What if he'd been caught? What if the owner of this place came back? I'd be cuffed on the spot for breaking and entering.

 _*Brrrnng*_

The noise causes me to jump until I realize its coming from an intercom on the wall. I hold the biggest button I see and the voice of the guard comes through on the other end.

"Good afternoon Ms. Amano. I'm surprised you're home. We have a boy down here who says he's delivering a pizza."

Ryuji... Thank all the creators in the world. "Let him up."

"..." The guard says nothing. My heart is pounding a million miles a minute while I wait for something to come. Did I mess up somewhere? Did he know?

After a full minute, I can't stand the silence anymore. I put some indignation in my voice to cover my fear. "What?"

"...Who are you? Ms. Amano lives alone."

"Her son. I'm visiting from college and there's nothing to eat." The lie spills from my lips before I have the chance to stop it. I was screwed. Utterly screwed. Her son?! Of all the things I could've picked, why didn't I say cousin or something? This was it. The end.

"Oh. Of course, so sorry. I didn't know you were visiting. I'll buzz him up right now." The guard hangs up before I have the chance to process my luck. That was close. Too close.

I exit the apartment quickly, heading for the elevators. Ryuji comes up alone and we take it to the sixth floor together. Luck. All of this was luck, but we could run out of that at any moment. "How did it go with the car?"

"It took me a while to find it but I ruined all the tires and messed up every inch of it. Red Jeep. 2nd floor."

I nod. Good. That was good. "Any cameras?"

"I don't know. Probably not." His flippant attitude almost pisses me off. If a camera caught him, Kamoshida would come after him again with the evidence. Forget expulsion, Ryuji would go to jail.

"Why didn't you check?!"

"I was in a hurry. And it's not important." He shrugs.

"Not important?!" I'm staring at him, shocked. "If you get cau-"

"I know." He gets out on the fifth floor, holding the door open for another minute. "I'm not important. I couldn't help my mom, and I couldn't save Shiho. Ann is the only thing that matters. Save her. No matter what."

The doors slide closed, and I travel up to the sixth floor by myself. This hallway is identical to the one on the second floor. Two large mirrors face the elevator when I walk out. Kamoshida's door is on my right, second door down. I walk up to it, buzzing the apartment. No one comes out, and I pound on the door a little harder.

When the door finally opens, man towers in the frame. He's well over six feet tall. Bulky. Muscles ripple over his arm and across his chest. He's wearing cargo shorts, but no belt or shirt. This had to be him.

Suguru Kamoshida.

"Who the hell are you?"

"I'm Akira Amano. I live in 23 downstairs. My mom says someone was scratching up your car in the garage."

"My car?!"

"Red Jeep on the second floor right? That's what my mo-" Kamoshida lets out an angry roar, pushing me hard as he runs for the elevator. I fall onto the door on the other end of the hall and it holds me up. When I get my bearings together, Kamoshida's door is closing, clicking shut in its final moments.

I work the knob, and it turns. Still open then. May lady luck continue to bless me. I quickly call Ryuji. "All clear. He just ran for the garage. Hurry up."

The apartment is large, decorated in medals and trophies. There are hundreds of Kamoshidas hanging on the wall. Pictures of him practicing, standing on the podium, and smiling for a camera decorate the wall like paint. A kitchen is on my left when I walk in. There's a bathroom on the right. I hurry past the spacious living room to a closed door at the end.

Ryuji runs behind me, yelling. "Where's Ann?!"

"I don't know. This door's locked. Do you think she's on the other side?" Ryuji pounds on the door for a few seconds. "ANN!"

I pull him from the door. "Shut up! We're dead if someone hears us!"

"Then what the hell am I supposed to do?!"

I look around me, searching for some way in. Nothing catches my eye. "You're stronger than me. Try breaking the doorknob while I search the place."

Couch cushions, drawers, cabinets. I dig through every nook and cranny but there's nothing that even remotely looks like a key. Ryuji is ramming the door with his shoulder. I lock the front door. Hopefully that would stall Kamoshida, if only for a few minutes.

My phone vibrates as I'm checking the kitchen, and I see that it's a text. I can't read the name or the words: 有里湊.

.

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, **_I̴̮̙͖̟͗́̾̄̀̒̀͢͟͠ͅn̢͙͉̲͔̗̳͒̀̌͒̄̄͊̀͆̆͟ͅ t̸̳̮̙͙̥̓̾͋̈͂̌̉͢͠h̖͓̭̬̠̠̔̏͌̓̏͋̌͗ȅ̴̟͖̬͙̲͂͋̎̕͜ f͇̳̗͊͗́͑̑͢ͅị̰͎͈̼̐̆͂͛̕͘͜r̸̹͉͕̜̙̱̊̑̄̆͝s̢͉̖̣̘̱̊̅̑͆̓͜͠ţ̴̳̤͎̝͎̳̭͑̅̀̂̀͘ ť͍͚̥̮̦͎͍͇͕́̾̿͋́͂͘̚͠i̡̢̲̦̲̲͖͊̓͆̾̾̍̕͞ͅm̸̛͉̖̰̟̹̞̄̾̆̒́̄̇̋͘ͅë̛͖͙͈̪̼̱̲̭̈́̄̀̈l̯͖͔̼͔̺͖͆̈̉͌̒̉̚̚i̷͕̳͓̹͍̣̓͗̂͂̋̽̀̽͒̕n̬͈͙̠̲̓͆͛͋̈͆̐͘̕ę̶̼̩͕̭̌̑̾͛̍̎͟ w̵̡̧̞̻̰͕̻̟̪̠̄̊̿̕͘͞h̢̪̜͔̣͖̑͂̏̋͞ȩ̨̧̛̭̦̩͖͓̈̅̔͗̈̀͞͝r̨̝̣͈͉̼͔̗̘̦̔͌̕͡͞͡ȩ̼̩̺̦͚̭̫̌͗͂̒͐̈͟ w̪̫̝͈̾̑͟͜͜͡͞͝e̡̨̧̧̯͉̩͓͗́̍̈̉̚ m̸̳̙͇̩̉̅͂͒̊͜e̷̢̬͔̱̺͗̀̇̄̚ṱ̯͇̲̯̭͓̻͍͑͒̈́̈͛͠͠͡,̸͓͈͎͎͓͇͉̳͕̐͗̏̈́̾̍̊̌̓͠ t̶̪̰̲̳͉̖̥̯̒̑̐́̐͜͢ḩ̴̣̦̦̓̎͛̑̐͑͜ͅe̲̭̰͙̒̈́̒̀͘͜͡ t̴̡͍̲̖̻͚͈̉͋̑͒͑h̸̢̝͈̰̤̀̒̅͋̑̏̕ř̵̫̖̬̱̿̏̊́̀͢͞ḙ̷͔̭͖̬͓͉͛͌͆̇̾̑̚͟͞e̡͔̖͈̘̹͛̑̿͊͂͗̋͜͝ o̢͖̣̼̗̟̻̿̑̑̒͛̔͒͐̓͡f̳̭̪͙̥̣̠̟̪͋̄́̑̊̐́͋͊͂ y̨̢̨͙̬̠̜͙̥͗͂̈̇̃̒̿̾͢͡o̴̢͙͔̳̜̫͕̐̌͌̽͋ͅư̷̡̧̯̞̪͈̪̳̗͐́͐͑̇͘͜͡ d̡̨̥̻̪͕̞͔̤͑̌̓̈̐̈̓̕͢ị̸͓̮͎̮̽͛͆̓̋̈́͐̀͘ȩ̘̼̼̝̤̊̈̔̿͡͡d̶̢̧̺̜̩̠̝̹̤̅̈̓̍̉͂͆̒͢͝͠.̴̨̨̛͙̫̰̬̜̪͐̾͗̑̀̓̌́̊ V̢̺̫̰͈̺̗͌̾͑̊̅̅̈͋̕͟í̵̜̬͍̞̾̒̋̓͢͡c̡̙̤̮̥̬̻̘͂͌̃̒͆͋t̢̢̝̻̞͕͔̺̊̋̈̇̈́͒̐̓͢͠͡i̸̧̞̝̝̦̬͇͋̂́̈́̈͡m̧̙̤͕͎͉̔̔̀̓̿͠͡s̶̡̜̗͈̜̦̑͂͋̓͗̓̂̐͝ o̧͉͍͕̣͂̓̅͐͊̇̇̾f͕̠̝̺͓̻̗̳̃̀̓̆̍́ t̮͔̰̹̠̲̑̌̓̊͛̒̑͋͘h̴̘̯̱͈͌̓͗͆̕͘͜ë̟̪̦̝̞́̓̓̇̃͋͜͢ b̶̧̜̰͉͕̱̬͙̓̄͗̎̋͟͢͠u̶͕̫͔̖̻͓͊͗̌͛́̾̆͠t͔͇̣͓̥͓̳̠̄̆̐͌̈́̓͆͊̕ͅc̡̢̧̫̝̲͓̖̜͈̐̈́̅̓̏́̆̌̽h̵̹̲̺̭͎̭͚̟̞̃͊͆͆̌̽̒͞͞ͅe̢̡͈̬̻͙̰̭͊͑͌̇̚͜͝ŕ̻̺͈̦͔̦̫̝̩͊̀̃̅̊̍͑͝.̸̢̧̜̦̣̠̪̺̪̬̀̑͛̓̅̇͌͂ Ŗ͕̳̯͙̼̪̭̬̦͒̋̉̃̊̍͛̚̕y̲̥̱̜̦̱̣̺̳̐̇́͗̍̈͌u̷̡̱̫̝̝̽͆͐͗̉̿̇j̷̧̢͙̣̯̈͋͂́̀̈̉̕i̜͈̰͕̠͛̓́̎̍͢͡ d̘̫͓̞̜̘̘͇̥̓́͋̓̉͟i̛͖͖̭̘̖̇̅̐͝ͅe̵͔̦̹̘̪̾̆́̈́̇͟͡͠ḏ̴̨̧̛͎̂̾̀̈́͐́̔́̕͜ f͙̭̮̼̰̓͋̽̅͆̑̕͡͝͡į̬͖̝͎̋͒̓̽͐̀̒̔͠r̛͇̮̩̮̝̽̽̀͌ṣ̡̢̱͔͖̲͇͆̽͆́̍̚͘t̶̡̳̖̣̜̬͍̤͎̉̑͗̓̐͆͒̌̌̕ͅ.̢̩̰̮͖͎͈͍͕̌̓̅̈̑̐̕̚ L̛̟̬̩͍̝͙̜͍̂̌̿͂̋͆́͗ͅͅõ̶̧̢͓͍͕̼͛̂́̂͐̓̃̃͝s̯͉͓̼̻̺̈́͆͋̍͜͜͟͠͠͡ͅṫ͚̥̯̲̦̦̠̝̺͉͛̏̔̕̕ a̧̮̫̼̻̥͕̿̆́̓͋̇̚ c̵̡̛̭͔͎̖̺͗̈́͛̈́̂̑͜h̵͉̟̞̙͓̋̃̇͌͝ͅu̢̬̖̮̘͙̔̐̑̒͆̽͛̕̚͜͟n͕͈͖̹̮̤͉̤̭̑̍̋́̌͂͡͝͡ḳ̶̹̻̝͙̲̤̌̓̂̈́̀̽̕ ơ̸̢͈̭͍͚̩̻̏̏͌̈̂̌̕f̱̻̱̘̥̣̩͂̓̅̔̚̚ ḩ̨͚̯̤̹̳̰́̀̑̊͒̌͠i̢̢̜̳͇̩̗̰̓̑̀̿͗̕͘̕͡͠ș̡̢̪̫̮̲̱͉̪̀̓̆́̐̊ f̷̞͓͔̭͓̗̰̪̀̏̎̓̓́͆͞ą̨̢̗̻̰̣̃̔̃͢͠͝ͅͅč̶̢̱̼͓̺̓̑́̐͟è̴̯̭̳̥͔͔̫̪̖̔̒̄̏̇͝.̡̘͔̣͈̍͋̋̇̽̀̓͜͟ T̶̢̜̳̻̠̜̫̩̃́̏̀̇͘̕͠h̸̙̪̯̣͈͋̅̽̑̉͞ê̢̠͎̜̱̄̃̌̚͢͟ņ̶̭̻̝̤̤͕̦̈́̌̋̑̎́̎͐̂͢͟͠ ŷ̵͎̱̞̘̱̤̒͊̽̕ơ̢̘̽̿͆͗́̚͘͜͟ͅu̸̙̼̭̞̮͒̃̕͘͟͡ͅ å̷̢̯̲͍̞̘̓̂̀̑͠n̶̡͇͎̙̽̏͗̀̏̍͘͜d̢̛͙͎̩̖̮͆̑̍̓̃̒̾̚ ṱ̷͎͔̞̓͋́̕̚͜͞͝h̤̻̹̗̘͓̜̔̋̆̀̿̌̈́̇́͢͡ȩ̷̢̖̘͎̺̯͐̒̀͐̀͊̓̕̕͢ g̸̡̞͉̹͙̰̓̽̓̔̅̾͌͞ͅi̸̠̖̻͈̋͐͛̏̂̆̍̓̈́̓͟r̸̡̠͙͕͓͇̖̊̐̏̂̆͋̊̑͘l̷̢͙̹̻̠̹̖̬̰̹̈́͌̀̿̑͐̈́́̄.̢̖̤̺̼͎̞̀̓͒͋̀̄͂̾̄͢ I̞̦̺͔̳̰͈̔͛̇͒͠'̨̹̯̥͔͇̿̈͒͋̒̒́́̓͡m͚͍̞̟̬̖̜͚̱̈̃̓̐͝ c̨̣̦̭̪̩̟̤̀͗́̌̒̚ō̧̱̘̙̺͛́̊̌̀̕m̴̨̢͙͍͉̓̄̃̂͊͘̕͟͟͠ͅĭ̶̛̼̺͔̗̬̫͍̿̑̄̀͜n̷̝̹̭͎̼̞͒̐̿̿͊̊͆͝g̱͖̘̫̱͍͐̈̈͆̏̈͜ ț̴̺̻͕̩̜̑̾̅̂̄͟o̯̺͓̪̠̙̜͑̿̿́̚͟ p̧̢̺̟̰̼̆̈́̑͆͘͘͢͞͠͝i̶͉̣͈͖̖͕̤͛̐̅̃̎͜c̗̻͚̠͈͖̲̋̎̏͑̔̈̓̓͟ḳ̡͖̗̫̙͕̯̀̀̃͘͞͡ y̷̯͖̤͎̟͇͋̔̒͐̈̋̈͐͘ȏ̡̢̝̥̤͑̓̊̀̎͡͝u͖̫̹̲̰͈̅̇̒̂͗̎͋̕͟͢͞ ų̟̞͉͕̩͖͈̖̌̐͐̀͋̚p̸̛̤͉̻̬̮̺͇͇̈́̋͌̐̔͘̕ a̬͚̫̠̤͚͙̰͊̌́̉̍͋͑̚͜͟t͚̞̬̮̟͑̏̔̃́̾̇̒͠͡ 7̱̯͙̰̪̞̮̬̌̓̿̓̈̓͜͝p̷̧͔̦̟̬͈̈̑͊́́̓̑m̧͉̘̞͙͙̍̎̔͑̚͟͝.̮̥̭͙̹͇̜͆͗̀́͑͒͋͒͟ S̶̡̳̫̳̦͈̄̂͌̈́̈̃͡͠t̵̢̢̹͕̹̾̎̑̉̄́̕͠a̵̛̼̖̭͕͉̭̿͌̋̿̉̆̏̒͞ŷ̶̧̡̛̰̰̬̌͌̏͗̄̈́̇ ī̴̱̻̺̟̗̼̜̄̄͋̈͛͘̚͟͞ͅn̨̡̹̤͍̣͂͋̽̃̔͛̚͢͜͟͡͠d̼̣͕͇͕̮̠͛͂̿͛̆͑̚͘͟ơ̡̲̞̥̝̱͌̀̿̉́͘͝ͅo̫̩̝̜̼̭̞̼͍͌̃̒̓̚͟ȑ̸͓̥̮͈̯̠̼͈̩͒̆͑̇̇͟ş̶̜̱̼̣̼̫̜̀͋̽͋̓̅́̕͘͜ ų̷̛͈͚̯̠̭̀͊̂͗̏̂̐̍͢ñ̷͙̙̘̙̝̤̹͗͛̐̎̏͂͜͝͠ͅt̵̨̛͖̗̩͍̟̭̩̘̦͌̈̾̽i̶̫̘̟̭̿͐̍́̐͟l̵̖̪̮̥͙̳͇̒̈͆͆̎̂̓͝ͅ t͓̦̬͖̫̼̂̑́̐̂͜ẖ̦͙͎͔̦͙̏̌͗͂̃e̢̮̠̩̝̱͐̽̿̀̂͒̓̓n̵̡̝̪̘͚͑̃̉̊̋̊.̸̧̛̝͖̠̼̰̤͖̞̳̔̋̽̌̔̔͠͝ Ì̧̬͈͇͍̯͈͌͐͐̇͆̚͢͞'̶̢̛̙͇̣̉́̄̊̅̇̋̐͟ͅͅl̢̛̼̣̰̘̩͐͊̓͛̊͘l̴̢̨͕̦͗̆̿͌̎̇̐̕͞ͅ c̶̳̯̪̥̖̩̦̞̘͋̌́̏͡a̴̖̱͚̪͐̃̃͛́̀̃͋͞ͅl̖͕̭̯̪̓̒͒̈́̆̆͡͠ľ̻̻̻͇̲͙̥͙̒͗̊̈́͑͌̌̑͡ͅ y̡̡̧̟̣̜̤͕̙̥͌͗̽͌̄͊̋ó̦̙̟͓͍͖̲͉͍̻̋̾̂̃͡͡͝u̶̧̠̙̯̼̐́͑̓̀ w̡̧̩͙̗̮͉̅̌́̋̄͌͘ͅḩ̰̥̩̟̥̏͗̇͑̍̈́̉͝e̡̖͕̦͈̙͐̿́͂̌͒̄̍̌͡n̛͎͙͚̥͇̝̍́͊̇̈̕͟͢͡ Ì̷̡̠͙̗̞̖̠̙̰͆̒́̋̊͘͝͠'̡̖̳̰̬̥̐͂̇͆̀̔̓͗̀m̨̺̤̯̜̣̮͒͗̀͂̈̚̕̕ ṋ̴̙̭̭̳̼̟̪͉̫͂̈́̉̑̌̀ę̛͈͖̘̙̠̫̦̝̼̍͋́̎a̛̱͚͚̦̭͕̱̗̭̓̃͌̿̚ŗ̴̞͔̩̙̠̰̻̩̠̇̍̾̀͡͝b̵̩̻̱̜̬̠̩͋͑͑̅́̾̌̚͠y̶̜̠͉͉͙͔͗̂͗̓͐͒͋̉̍.̤͎̮̘͇̬̜̈͑̉͂̃͂̇͝_** """"

.

I try reading the words and fail. They're a jumble of code. The number goes straight to voicemail. There's no quirky automated message. Just a beep noise that tells me it's recording which immediately tells me whose voicemail it is. _Minato._ What did he want? I debate having Ryuji read the message to me, but think better of it. There was a chance he talked about time traveling, and I couldn't take the chance that Ryuji would learn about that here.

I leave Minato a voicemail and go back to Ryuji. "Any luck?"

"NO! Gah!" He pounds on the door again, but it doesn't budge. "We're running out of time."

Then, the front door began to rattle.

* * *

 **You have progressed in Ryuji's Quest: Lovers.** **You have completed Task Two: Entering the Tower. [4]**

 **You have paused the adventure. Ryuji's (Captain Kid's) stats at this point.**

 **Knowledge:** **3 (** **Can do math.** **Does not make logically sound choices.)**

 **Strength: 5 (Can carry a girl for a few blocks. Can not run with said girl)**

 **Agility** **: 3 (A slow jog is okay. Can't run. Dodging ability minimal)**

 **Durability** **: 6 (Can walk away from being hit by a slow moving car. Will not walk away from a beating.)**

 **[Flag] Remains the same. Quest is still in progress. Plans may be adjusted at this time.**

 **Navi's Sale is currently inactive.**


	11. Scaling the Tower (3)

**Players: Lilli, Falcon Puncher, and Metal Vile input processed.**

 **Code deciphered. Bonus call unlocked.**

 **Sequence commencing...**

* * *

The front door begins to rattle.

Panic fills my system and I immediately grab Ryuji, looking for a place to hide. The room is large and spacious, mostly open. The furniture is too short. There aren't any closets. The bathroom then? Or maybe the kitchen. We were running out of time. I press Ryuji against the door of the fridge in the kitchen and pray to every deity who will listen that the person coming through isn't Kamoshida. The gods betray me completely.

"What the fuck? Did I lock the door...?" His voice is burly, deep. Undeniably the man in question. I see Ryuji raise my knife, ready to strike at any moment, but I put my hand on his arm to stop him. It was way too early to consider killing the guy. There would be no escape. The knives could only be used for self-defense. Cold-blooded murder was a line I couldn't cross.

With barely a moment to spare, the man strides into the room, his frame talking up the entire width of the hallway.

I can feel Ryuji moving underneath my arm but I hold him in place. _No..._ I would not let him throw his life away. I refused to let him kill Kamoshida. There had to be another way.

The man enters the room while on his phone, blind and deaf to everything else around him. "Are you retarded?! Yes! Someone fucked up my car! I didn't crash it. Probably some punk...I don't know! Are you going to pay for it or not?! What do you mean?! Listen here you son of a..."

The conversation seems to drop there because the next thing I hear is a roar and the sound of plastic and metal shattering into a million pieces. Kamoshida walks passed the kitchen without even giving it a second glance, and the two of us remain hidden. He's heading straight for the locked door at the back of the apartment. "Useless pieces of shit..."

Keys rattle out of sight, and we know he's opening the door. I try my best to peek out at him around the wall despite Ryuji's constant fighting to break free. The door opens with a click and Kamoshida strides into the darkness, not even bothering to turn on the light. He doesn't speak, and I wonder if we've made some sort of mistake. Was Ann even here?

After a few moments, Kamoshida comes back out and I push Ryuji further into the kitchen. _Please god, oh please don't let him come in here._

As luck would have it, I hear something fall on the ground and another door click closed. I peek my head around the corner and am flooded with a wonderful sight. The bathroom door is shut, with a layer of light filtering underneath the door. There's a squeak as a knob turns and then comes the sound of running water.

I gesture for Ryuji to move and the two of us all but run to the previously locked room. Kamoshida's hardwood floor doesn't absorbs our steps and I sing another prayer that Ryuji can walk a little quieter. After tonight, I'd go to a church or a temple for the rest of my life if we made it out alive. Whatever it was that protected us from all the things that could've gone wrong will receive my offerings every day.

"An-" I immediately slap a hand over Ryuji's mouth. Ann is lying on the bed, even prettier in life than she'd been in my dream. Her golden hair is swept back, revealing her face, but her arms and legs are tied together with rope. Her eyes are closed. Ryuji rushes over to her, shaking her by the shoulders. There's no response. I push him aside to put my finger to her nose. "She's still breathing. We need to go."

I grab one of my knives and cut the ropes at her arms while Ryuji does the ropes around her legs. It only takes a few seconds to decide she's better off on my back than his. She's heavy, but lighter than I remember. Perhaps I was weaker in the other timeline. This gives me a bit of hope as the three of us rushes from the room. How much time did we have? A few moments at most. A few seconds at the worst. Ryuji is in front of me, opening the door for us to leave. This felt too easy.

The hallways seems longer than before, much more open. What would someone do if they saw us now? Two strange boys carrying an unconscious girl on our backs warranted more than just a bit of attention. "Where to now?"

"Elevator." What is probably only a few seconds feels like hours. What if Kamoshida came out right at this moment? Did he notice already? What would be the first place he looked? When the door slides open, I immediately rush in and Ryuji begins repeatedly tapping the 2 button. The doors close much too slowly. It's only when the elevator starts moving again that I calm down just the tiniest bit. Safe. We were safe for now.

Ann feels heavier on my back with every passing minute. When the door opens, I'm all but ready to drop her where I stand. I'm practically running back to Room 23 where presumably, Miss Amano has not returned yet. We were gone 30, maybe 45 minutes. Plenty enough time for a grown woman to return home from work, but she was nowhere to be seen, and the door remained unlocked.

Ryuji heads in first, and I direct him to the balcony. "Close the blinds, crouch low. We need to get out of here."

My friend nods, doing exactly as he's told. I check the other doors until I find what I'm looking for. The bedroom. I grab the covers off the bed, sending a silent apology to Miss Amano, wherever and whoever she may be. I'm about to leave the bedroom again when the front door opens, and a woman walks in. I shoot a quick glance to Ryuji and he seems to notice her as well, ducking behind the curtain again, out of sight. He's invisible on the balcony as far as I can tell.

The woman is looking down, taking off her shoes with one hand as she uses her other arm to hold herself up against the frame of the door. "...I'm about to call Igor to see if he's at the apartment."

I back away into the bedroom, before dropping onto the floor, and rolling underneath the bed. Her voice drips over to me as she walks closer, clearly headed in my direction. "No. He's never even seen my face. "

There's clear frustration in her voice, and I begin to wonder how much she'll notice. Would she realize I'd moved things in her living room? What about her bedroom? Would she realize I was here?

There's a loud banging on the door, and her voice gets quieter as she walks away from me. "Hold on for a second, Yukino. Someone's at the door."

 _Yukino?_

Despite all the tension in the air, I hone in on the name like a lifeline. Was it possible? There was no way things just fell into my lap like this. It had to be coincidence. Plenty of women had that name. It wasn't rare at all...

But she'd mentioned someone else as well, didn't she? _Igor._ One was a coincidence, but two was a pattern. Who on earth was this woman?

I can hear the door open from the other room and immediately Suguru Kamoshida's voice booms out. "Amano, was it? I need to talk to your son..."

"He's not here." Her voice is crisp and sharp. Something about it tells me she was a woman I would like.

"Well, when is he coming back?"

"He's not. He doesn't live here."

"Then did **you** see who messed up my car?!" I can hear the impatience seemingly crawling its way to the forefront of his questions. Whatever facade he normally had was falling away.

"No. Unfortunately, I've just made it home and I'm pretty tired. If you'll excuse me." She slams the door, and I can imagine her locking it without giving Kamoshida the time to respond. I definitely liked this woman.

Her footsteps begin to approach me again until I see her feet at the door of her bedroom. She's standing at the entrance. She doesn't move, nor does she say anything else into her phone. What was she looking at? What did she know? I'm at my panic limit when she speaks again, and my blood freezes. "I don't know who you are, but I'm going to give you three minutes to get out of my apartment. I'm going to walk into the bathroom and I'm going to wait there. If you're still here when I count to 180, I will kill you, do you understand?"

Logic dictates I should say nothing, but I'm saved from making any decision because I hear Ryuji shout from the balcony. "YES!"

She turns and immediately walks away. When I hear the bathroom door click, I rush from underneath the bed and rush to the balcony, grabbing her blankets with me. Ryuji looks almost as panicked as I feel. "What now?!"

"We need to go. Can you-" I'm interrupted from finishing my thought by the vibration of my phone in my pocket. I answer the call without even bothering to check the caller ID. "Hello?"

"Where are you?" His quiet and monotone voice immediately alerts me to the speaker. In that one second, I'm so grateful, I almost fall in love.

"Still at the apartment. We're leaving now."

"NO!" It's the first time I've ever heard Minato yell, and I almost drop my phone.

"What?"

"You can't go outside. Didn't you read my text?"

"I... I can't read..." He audibly groans and I'm almost ready to hang my head in shame. I didn't like disappointing people. One of my five greatest fears actually. "Why can't I leave...?"

"I need 30 minutes. Maybe 45. Stay indoors. I'll be there soon. You **need** to wait for me." He hangs up without another word and I tell Ryuji what he said. Despite Minato's warning, Ryuji looks more than a touch relieved.

"This is great. Someone's coming to pick us up. Let's just go back to the Pizza Hut." It's three blocks away. Not far by any measure, but after my phone call with Minato, dread fills my system. Why? Why did he tell me to stay indoors? What was supposed to happen tonight?

"No. He told us not to leave. Let's go to the roof. Minato can bail us out after he gets here." I carry Ann, with Ryuji doing a power walk next to me as we head back to the front door of apartment 23. He peeks his head out, checking both corners before he heads for the elevator. I pull him in the other direction. "Stairs."

I spare one last look at the apartment behind me. Room 23. Amano. I'd never heard the name in my life, but that didn't really matter. My parents kept more than their fair share of secrets from me. Maybe Amano was just another one. How many mysteries could one person take before everything in his world felt like a lie or a dream? I pull the thought away. An unconscious girl and a volleyball coach trying to kill us was the priority here. I'd worry about everything else if I managed to make it through this.

The climb back up is strenuous, wearing down what little muscle I have. Ryuji walks ahead of me. I'd chosen the elevator the first time because there was a good chance of me losing my balance and falling down the stairs with Ann on my back but this... Going up was like climbing Mt. Everest. The building had 8 floors, and 6 flights of steps was killer on my back. Ryuji carries Ann for the last two. Despite my best efforts, I was completely exhausted.

The door to the roof is propped open with a brick and the two of us rush out into the open air. The entire area is enclosed by a stone railing. It's not very tall, but provides just enough back support for someone sitting on the ground. A few fold-able chairs sit around the place and an overflowing trashcan is shoved into one corner. People clearly came up here often. Thankfully, it was empty for now. Ryuji places Ann in one of the chairs while I collapse onto the floor, resting my back against a wall. Ryuji plops down next to me. "Do you think we're safe here?"

"I don't know, but I trust Minato."

Ryuji says nothing, staring out over the ledge onto the street below.

A few people walk along the sidewalks and alleys. I see an older woman parking her bike along the apartment, clearly just returning from work. The sun is beginning to set. It draws an orange glow over the landscape. While it should be pretty, I'm almost reminded of blood. Ryuji looks like he wants to fall asleep at any moment but I'm too anxious to do such a thing. A strange noise is drawing my attention. _Sirens._

A police car zooms around the corner and another pit of anxiety grows in my stomach. I instinctively know it wasn't the Amano woman who called them. The line of reasoning tells me Kamoshida probably didn't know who took Ann and he couldn't chase us down without a car, so he'd called the cops. Probably to report someone for trashing his car and hoping he'd get Ann back in the process. Ryuji points them out. "Do you think they're here for us?"

"Probably." The door to the roof slams shut. In the back of my mind I wonder vaguely if it's one of those doors that auto-locks. If it were, we'd be trapped here until someone with a key showed up. Even if it weren't, there was no escape with Ann in tow. Especially not when someone was standing in front of the door.

"Who the hell are you?!"

A man dressed entirely in black stands between us and our escape. His hoodie was pulled up, covering his hair and most of his face. A chill runs down my spine and for a split second, I'm taken somewhere else.

 _The alley is narrow. I run behind Ryuji but it's no use. He's not very fast and I can't run with a girl on my back. The look on his face tells me he knows it too. He stops running and I nearly barrel into him. "What are you doing?!"_

 _"I'll distract him. You keep going," He maneuvers around me, pushing me behind him protectively._ _"I said GO!"_

 _I look down the alley before turning back to look at him. "I'm not leaving you here!"_

 _"Then you'll all die here." A man jumps onto Ryuji's back and before I have the time to respond he takes a bite out of Ryuji's face. A deafening scream rips through the air, but it's cut short. With no hesitation at all, Ryuji's attacker runs a knife across his throat, the blood pouring out like a fountain._

 _Ryuji falls back, his body convulsing as the life pours out of him. I can see his cheekbones, his teeth, parts of his skull that I have no right to be seeing. My mouth is dry, opening and closing with no words for what I am seeing. What **am** I seeing? _

_The cannibal stands up from the body of my best friend, "It's your fault, you know. Chie is going to cry tomorrow."_

The vision ends and I'm slammed back into the present. The roof. Ryuji, Ann, and my cannibal. Everything falls into place. "You... You killed us..." I'm the one who says the words, but I don't understand them. I'm still alive. I'm still alive because I'm a time traveler. I'm still alive because others have died in my place. Eriko Kirishima. "You're the Butcher."

He lifts his face to look at me, and for the first time, I see it in the light. In my dreams, his eyes looked so red, they seemed to glow, but it had all been an illusion. He's wearing a mask that covers the entirety of his head. It's gruesome, with a grin that is all animal. In the middle of the grisly smile is a zipper that can be pulled open for his mouth. I'm familiar with the thing. The mask was a popular accessory two years ago due to a TV show. They were everywhere. He pulls open the zipper now, and I'm surprised to see a normal set of human teeth. His lips are pulled into a frown. "I hate that name. I'm not doing this for fun. I don't have a choice!"

He shouts the words at me, indignant. His voice is definitely familiar. I know him. I know _him._ "You know, I didn't recognize you when you first moved in, but I was sure after killing you in the alley. You kept coming back. I had to ask myself, why is he still alive after I killed him in Shibuya."

He starts walking toward me, taking small steps. "And then I found the answer. You're a time traveler."

I have a split second to catch the frozen shock on Ryuji's face before I push him toward the exit, "Take Ann and go!"

My movement seems to break some sort of equilibrium and the cannibal starts to run, pulling a sickle from his hoodie. So I'd been mistaken this entire time. Not a knife, but a sickle. "No one's going anywhere. All of you are going to die here."

At the last second he changes course, running at Ryuji.

I disregard all sense of self-preservation and rush him, throwing one of my knives at the cannibal's head. This seems to catch him off guard. He dodges to the left, my knife falling harmlessly onto the rooftop with a clang. It does its job. Ryuji's path is open. "GO! RYUJI! TAKE ANN AND GO!"

His face is torn. He wants to help me. He wants to stay, but Ann is a liability and with a look of anguish he throws her over his shoulder and all but runs for the door. I grab the second knife from my pocket and prepare my last line of defense. This was my fight. My cannibal. My killer. He seems to pause while he considers trying to to stop Ryuji, but I throw myself at him again, thrusting the knife down onto his mask. He grabs my arms, keeping them up above him while the sharp end of his sickle is pointed at my throat. He's not very tall, shorter than me. Skinny too. How could a twig of a man be so strong? "You're not afraid of dying?"

"Like you said. It wouldn't be the first time."

He laughs, but it's humorless. His voice when he speaks again, cracks, as if he's about to cry. "I am. I don't want to die."

He's fast, and I'm too tired to keep up. He jumps back, before maneuvering himself in for another attack. I parry his first blow by the grip of my knife. It takes all my strength to keep his weapon at bay, but he slams his foot into my stomach, throwing me off balance. As I try to recover, the blade of his sickle goes for my throat. I try to parry the blow but he takes out a chunk of the back of my wrist and hot blood bursts from my arm. I drop the knife. I reach for it again, but can't get a grip. My fingers won't move. He runs toward me, about to finish the job, when I roll underneath his attack. My knife is in arm's reach and I grip it with my left hand. The pain in my arm is enough to make me want to pass out.

The cannibal turns around, licking my blood from the knife. He doesn't seem to enjoy it, but sucks it in nonetheless. "Give it up. There's no point in fighting."

He's right. This fight is lost. There was no way for me to win. "Honestly, I know, but I have friends waiting for me."

I can't do most of my flips without my hands, but I charge him anyway, swinging the knife wildly. Something in me concedes that he will win. I wasn't nearly as panicked as I should've been. If I could kill him, then my life would be worth something. I would save someone else from the fate of having to die by his hand. Even if it was just Ryuji and Ann who made it out, that would be okay. He swings the sickle up and his blade catches mine, knocking it from my weak grip. His advance now is slow. The dance of someone who knows they've won, but isn't quite ready to make the final move.

"I can't eat normal food." His sickle nicks my arm. My shoulder. I ignore the pain burning its way to my chest. "I lost everything trying to save someone I loved." He continues to chase me around the roof, bringing the sickle down on my head. I jump back just in time to avoid being cut in half. "It didn't matter what I did. Over and over. I kept watching her die." I'm backed against the corner. "She was just a little girl." There was nowhere left to run. "I'm sorry, Akira. Don't bother jumping back in time. I don't want to kill you again."

* * *

 **You have progressed in Ryuji's Quest: Lovers.** **You have completed Task Three: Escaping the Tower. [4]**

 **[Flag] Who is the cannibal? [Required: Name of NPC] The NPC chosen will change the ending of this story.**

 **Navi's Sale is currently inactive.**


	12. Investigating the Answer (3)

**All input processed. Cannibal found. (ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED)**

 **You have unlocked a new Character.**

 **Sequence Commencing...**

* * *

Death isn't anything like what I expected. I don't know what I expected honestly, but not this. I was sitting on an empty wooden boat. It seemed to be moving at an even pace, sailing slowly down a black river with no rhyme or reason. No one steered it and there were no waves but the boat continue to move, as if guided by unseen hands.

I peered over the side into the dark water. It wasn't dirty per say, but the opaque surface held nothing. No leaves, no fish, or any time of reflection. It was like staring into space on a night without stars.

The river wasn't very wide, but I was surrounded on both sides by trees. Shadows of people walked between those trees, whispers and faces in the dark. Voices that seemed familiar and foreign all at the same time. I picked up a few words among the jumble of noise.

 _Iwatodai_

 _Inaba_

 _Tatsuya_

 _Amano_

 _Cannibal_

 _Butcher_

 _Ryoji_

Several words are repeated over and over behind the fog. I'm not sure what it all means, but then I hear something else too: a faint calling. Someone is repeating my name. Over and Over.

 _"Akira!"_

When I open my eyes, I'm assaulted by light and pain. I immediately shut my eyes again but the light continues to seep through, bright and unforgiving. Slowly, as slow as I can manage, I try opening them again, and am rewarded with sight, however blurry.

I'm in a hospital room. That much is clear. My glasses are nowhere in sight, but a few feet away I'm graced with a familiar and precious figure. Standing by the rolling table at the end of my bed is a woman with curly hair. She has perfect posture and a field of photos scattered over the top of the table. Her yellow eyes glow like a cat. "...Mom?"

Curly hair flies in all directions when she whips her head up to look at me. She looks as if she's about to cry, rushing over to give me a hug. She pulls me from the bed, and it's painful. I can feel the unseen wounds that probably cover my body.

"You stupid kid! Do you know how worried I've been?! How could you do something so dangerous?! You were an inch from dying you idiotic child!" She's squeezing me tight, and I don't have the heart or the energy to pull away. "We sent you to the Apartments so you could get better and then you go off and nearly get yourself killed! You're just like your father!"

"Like dad. Or like Tatsuya?" Something inside me breaks. I've never mentioned the name to them. I've never even tried to question them about the truth of our family, but I'm different now. Coming to the apartments have changed me. Learning the truth about my abilities, about my visions and insanity have broken that layer of fear that always clouded my thoughts. I could help people. I helped Ryuji and Ann. I fought a serial killer and made it out alive. What more did I need to be afraid of? If I could face death head on, then why couldn't I face my own family?

My mom pulls away, holding me at arm's length. Her face seems a little different now, after all the weeks we've spent apart. Her curly black hair and sharp face are almost foreign. It's masculine and strong. She'd once been like a rock in my life. Her hands are large, quite unlike my own. "How long have you known?"

I look down so I don't need to face her. "Since I was a kid..."

"And you never said anything. That's just like Maya. Keeping all your problems locked inside you." She smiles, and her eyes are kind, almost sad.

"Is Maya..."

"Your mom."

My heart seems to stop beating, and I hold my breath while I wait for her to say something. To laugh, mock me, or tell me I'm not her son. She says nothing at all, and I know she's waiting for me to respond. "Did you...love me?"

She takes a deep breath exhaling out of her nose. "...When Maya first asked me to take care of you, I admit I didn't want to do it. I didn't want children, and by no means did I like Jun. Honestly, I still kind of hate him, even after all these years, but I agreed to it because I owe Maya everything."

I say nothing, keeping my head down. What do you say to the woman who raised you? Who wasn't really your mother but acted the part your entire life even if she didn't want it.

All of a sudden she hugs me again, and her warmth envelopes me. There is no grace, or regard for my wounds. She is callous, and inconsiderate, but she is kind. "I do love you... You were a good kid. Maya's kid. You look like her, you know. Jun and I didn't do a good job as parents, but..."

"You did a great job." I wrap my arms around her, and I feel like a weight has been lifted from my chest. I don't ask her about Maya, the Amano woman, or Tatsuya, and she doesn't explain. I simply cry into her shoulder, while she rubs my back as soothingly as she can. It's not very comfortable, but it is comforting. I feel like a child.

Our moment is cut a bit short when a pair of officers walk into room. "Akira Kurosu? We have some questions for you."

Unsurprisingly, they ask about Ann and what we were doing breaking into someone's apartment building. I give them the truth for the most part. They hmph in disapproval but there's a slight smile on their face. I guess I wasn't going to jail at least.

The harder questions come at the end. Who attacked you? I don't know. Did you see his face? No. Do you remember any details about the killer? I lie and continue to say no. My mom sits next to me as if to shield me from their questions but she makes no move to deflect them. After an hour the seem to have their fill and I sign their report. I'm fined $50,000 for breaking and entering but it won't go on any record.

My mom stands up to leave with the police. "I've got to head out with them for the rest of your paperwork. Me and Jun will be here tomorrow. Rest up." I nod, letting her go. I can hear her say a few words to someone outside and the next person to walk in is a young unfamiliar woman with dark make-up and short hair.

"Good afternoon, Akira. My name is Dr. Takemi. I'm happy to see you're awake. When they brought you in here, plenty of doctors thought you were going to die. My supervisor was ready to start cutting you up for organ donations. I talked him out of it. There was an experimental medication I wanted to try and you were a perfect candidate. No side effects yet. Your mom signed the release forms."

She stops talking for a moment to glance up at the frozen horror on my face, giggling into her hand. I sincerely hope she's kidding but she makes no other effort to ease me of my fears. "Let's take a look, shall we?"

Dr. Takemi goes through all the natural doctoral procedures. She checks my reflexes, eyes, breathing, and makes several notes on a clip board at the end of my bed. "You're doing well, recovering much quicker than expected. I can discharge you tomorrow if you don't experience any nausea, dizziness, vomiting, or death." She gives me another chuckle and a quick wink on her way out.

Before I have the time to calculate the likelihood of me dying by side effect, my next guests roll in. Ann is pushing Ryuji who is confined to a wheelchair. A giant cast is wrapped around his leg, but he otherwise looks good. When he sees that I'm awake, he brushes Ann's hands away and rolls himself into the side of my bed, not stopping until hes crashed into the side, propelling him forward into a strange death grip on my chest.

Ann rushes after him, clearly biting back an insult. Ryuji is nearly shaking me. "Holy shit. I thought you were going to die. I've felt like crap for the past three days thinking I'd gotten you killed."

I pet him awkwardly on the back. It wasn't really his fault. I was the one the cannibal was after. Not him. Even if he didn't drag me to the apartment, the cannibal would've come for me sooner or later. If anything, it was my fault for getting him killed in the other timeline. "Don't worry. How are the two of you doing?"

"Pretty good. I've had surgery while you've been out. The doctors say I'm doing great. Doing some physical therapy. I'll be on crutches in a couple days, and I'll be out of the cast in a month. This one is still treating me like I might die any second though." He point to Ann, and she slaps him in the arm, grinning.

She seems well. There are bruises on her wrist but she looks unharmed. "Don't listen to the idiot. He doesn't know what he's talking about. I'm Ann." She bows deeply while holding her hair out of the way. "Ryuji told me how you helped him rescue me. I'm really... grateful. If you guys didn't show up, I don't know what that creep would've done to me." She pulls her jacket closer around her body, hiding her well-endowed chest. Ryuji reaches over to hold her hand.

"I'll never be able to thank you for everything you did." She bows again and I offer her the visitor's chair so she can sit. The two of them are the picture of a happy couple as they fill me in on the missing details. Ann started dating Kamoshida about six weeks ago. After Shiho died there was an investigation at the school, but it came up empty. "I didn't believe it. I couldn't let that creep get away after what he did to her."

After weeks of searching, she finally found the evidence she was looking for. "He kept videos on his computer. Shiho wasn't the only one..."

She was in the middle of downloading the evidence when Kamoshida found her. "Gave her a concussion. Drugged her too. The scumbag carried chloroform." Ryuji added.

"I turned in the evidence the moment I woke up. Hopefully the cops are knocking on his door right now."

Throughout the conversation, Ryuji never lets go of her hand. While he talks, she watches his face with a mix of annoyance and admiration. It might be his poor pronunciation or how often he swears, but every so often she'll shoot him a look that simply screams _'Why on earth do I like you?'_ After close to an hour, the two of them leave. Ann attempts to push his chair but he's adamant about doing it himself. The pride of a man in love. A warm feeling blooms in my chest. Everything I went through was worth it for this.

When they're gone, I examine my wounds. My right arm is heavily bandaged. According to my medical worksheet, a nurse changes them every 24 hours. The wound had required 14 stitches. As for the other cuts and bruises, they weren't nearly as bad. Several thick bandages are stuck on top of the cuts. I'd passed out from blood loss, apparently.

I'm in the middle of checking my legs when Minato walks in, his work bag in one hand and a bento in the other. His face is calm and expressionless. Ryuji probably already told him I'd woken up. He unwraps the bento for me, and it's quite adorable. The side dishes are arranged into a butterfly in the middle. Rice surrounds them, filling up the box to the brim. There's no way he'd make something like this for me.

"Did Mina do all this?" There's a brief smirk on his face when he shakes his head.

"She's mad at you." _Ahh. Of course._

"For telling Navi about the baby?" He nods. _Okay. Well. I saw that coming._ "Did it end well at least?"

He makes a face, a bit contemplative before shaking his head.

"What happened?"

"Akihiko confronted her. Lot of yelling. She punched him." I wince. Minato didn't mince words. He has a strange habit. When he's thinking he doesn't drag his words or say things like 'um'. He just stops abruptly, as if he hates the sound of his voice.

"Does Akihiko still want to be with her?" A nod. "But she doesn't want to be with him?" A shrug. "Do you think they'll-"

He interrupts me, shoving the bento in my face. "Eat. Lavenza worked hard." _Ahh, so it had been Lavenza then._

I take a few bites and find that it's delicious. I continue shoving in large mouthfuls while Minato closes his eyes, most likely trying to catch up on some sleep.

It doesn't take me long to finish the meal. I decide not to respect his ridiculous nap schedule and poke Minato with my chopsticks. "Hey..." His eyes are still closed but he tilts his head up to let me know he's awake and listening. "What happened on the roof? The last thing I remember is the Butcher chasing me around the roof and getting backed into a corner."

"I found you alone. Blood everywhere. Thought you were dead. Called an ambulance and carried you downstairs."

"So you didn't jump to save me?"

He snorts, his expression twisting into a smirk, and his one eye opening slightly in condescension. _Do you honestly think I would do that for you?_

"Fair point." He chuckles at my answer before pouring himself a glass of water. He was clearly planning on staying for a while. "So did anyone jump?"

He shakes his head.

I lean my head back against the wall while I try to recollect memories of the fight. No one jumped. The Butcher, cannibal, or whatever you wanted to call him let me go. Why? I try to search the memory for clues but they feel fragmented and disjointed in my mind. Only bits and pieces stick out. There was something in particular that kept bothering me. "Before we fought he said something strange. He told me he didn't recognize me when I first moved in. He knew I was time traveler after killing me in the alley. What did he-"

Minato drops his cup, spilling his water all over his bag. His one eye is wide in shock. I quickly use my blanket to wipe off the water. "What's wrong?"

"Think about what you just said."

"He knew I was time traveler after killing-Oh shit..." That information had flown over my head in the heat of the moment. Now that I was conscious, I could see the answer. He knew I was a time traveler. That could only mean one thing. The Butcher was also a time traveler. "That's how he's been avoiding the police! I mean, the guy eats people! Someone must've spotted him at some point."

Minato nods. So he just jumps when he's about to get caught. It was brilliant in its own way. How could someone catch a time traveler? "But then what do we do? How do we catch him?"

He closes his eyes and resumes his sleeping pose, slouching in the chair. _Figure that out yourself._

Sometimes, he really did annoy me. Even if we were friends, it's like he enjoyed making things difficult for me. I rattle off the things I've learned while Minato pretends to sleep. The Butcher was male, skinny, small. He used a sickle. He was a time traveler. My list feels short, and I tap my companion for another opinion. "Anything else?"

"He lives at the apartments."

"What?"

"He didn't recognize you when you first moved in." He shoots me a look that screams, _which means..._

I roll my eyes. I caught his drift. He didn't need to treat me like an idiot. "Meaning we met when I moved in."

Minato nods. _Bingo._ "Except you moved in twice."

That catches me by surprise. I moved in twice? "What are you talking about?"

"In a different timeline, you moved in three months ago."

"THREE MONTHS?!" Several of the other patients and a nurse turns to look at me. I slap a hand over my mouth, hiding my embarrassment. Minato shows no reaction at all. I turn down my volume significantly. "What happened?"

"You became friends with Ryuji. Tried to hook up with my sister. Got eaten by the butcher." He lists the events off nonchalantly but my comprehension dies a little with each sentence. I tried to do **what** with Mina? Well, at least THAT vision finally made sense. "Uhh..."

"Nothing happened. She was just using you to make Akihiko give up on her." I don't even bother trying to make sense of that one. Too many things happened at that apartment and I certainly wanted no part in any love triangles, quadrilaterals, or pentagons.

"So no lingering grudges or anything?" He shrugs. Not a no, but not a yes either. I'd take it. Minato was way too overprotective of his sister. The fact that he let her work at a hostess club was nothing short of a miracle but that was a question for another time. "How do you know I died in the other timeline? Wasn't I the one who jumped when the Butcher killed me?"

His eyes remain closed, but his eyebrows were knitting together slightly, as if in thought. "No. We found out the day after. On the news. That's when the timeline shifted. An hour after the shift, you moved in again."

This surprises me, and I'm quiet for a few minutes while I process this information. I didn't save myself. Someone else jumped in order to save me and that shifted the entire continuum. Who had that ability? On top of that, who would do it to save me? By the sound of it, not the triplets. Just how many time travelers were there? What were the pre-existing conditions for this ability to work? Clearly it was genetic. The triplets and the entire family of the attendants at the apartment had the ability.

"Can a person jump whenever they want?"

He shakes his head. "You need to be bleeding. The more blood, the further back you can go."

I never would've guessed. That was an odd requirement. As I'm contemplating this, another memory comes to mind and I'm struck with an answer I don't quite believe. _No way._ Sure... He was odd. Kind of awkward, but he was no serial killer. "Hey... How tall are you?"

"170cm"

"I think I know who the cannibal is."

Minato says nothing, but he finally opens his eyes again as if to let me know he heard me. _So what are you going to do about it?_

And honestly, I didn't know.

* * *

 **You have completed Ryuji's Quest: Lovers. Ryuji Bond Maxed. (ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED)**

 **Stat Progression in this chapter: Ann and Minato Bond Up.**

 **[Timed Flag] Will Akira try to kill the cannibal? [Required: Plan]**

 **Confront him and make a deal to live your lives separately. Akira will not go to the police and the Cannibal will not come after you again. [Required: Bravery x5** **Bond of Friendship x5 with any member of the P4 cast** **]**

 **Convince the cannibal to turn himself in [Required: Bond of Friendship x7 with any member of the P4 cast. Unmet. Kanji currently at 5.]**

 **Deadline: March 3rd**


	13. Game Over (2)

**Requirements not met.**

 **ERROR. ERROR. System load not met.**

 **Your route has been rewritten.**

 **Sequence Commencing...**

* * *

I spend another 2 days in the hospital. Ryuji lived in the room next door. He comes by every few hours, often with Ann in tow. Minato doesn't come by again but our one meeting gave me enough to think about. Dr. Takemi is...odd. She likes to make morbid jokes about my health but I am glad when she signs off on my discharge paperwork. Ryuji is discharged the same day but my bandages stay on. Unfortunately. My mom comes to drive us back to the apartments, much to my surprise. Igor was letting us stay despite all the trouble we caused.

My return to the apartments is met with mixed reactions. A fair amount of the third floor are not happy to see me. While many of them avoided me like usual, Akihiko is the exception. He isn't there when I get home but he drags me aside over dinner to thank me. "It's been big news all over the department. You and your friends uncovered a huge scandal. There are dozens of victims. You're a hero to those people."

His praise embarrasses me more than anything, but I am proud of what Ann has accomplished. "Thanks. Ann did most of the work. I just tagged along for the ride."

Akihiko shakes his head, smiling lightly. "You know, you remind me of Minato a bit. When we were younger, he was like this too. Never liked taking credit for anything. It was always Mitsuru's leadership, or Fuuka's brains."

At the mention of our stoic friend, I looked around the room for him. Minato doesn't follow me around anymore. After the Kamoshida incident, I see much less of him than before. It is nice to be given my solitude again, but it's odd losing something of a constant. His mass of blue hair is conspicuously absent, as is his sister. "I heard what happened between you and Mina. Will you be okay?"

He laughs, surprisingly lighthearted. "You heard, huh? I honestly haven't seen her that angry in years. It's a good thing." He looks down for a minute, studying his dinner before looking back up with a smile. "It's better than having her pretend I don't exist. I'll get her back. I'm pretty hardheaded when I want to be." There's a light blush on his cheeks when he smiles. The shy type? I never would have guessed.

My friends on the fourth floor offer me hugs. Chie, Kanji, and Yukiko in particular seem very relieved. There is a lot of smacking, shaking, and Kanji might've cried a bit while Rise laughed at him. Naoto offers me her congratulations as well. She has more information than Akihiko. "It's a bit premature but the case is more or less closed. I had a few people in Internal Affairs inform me Suguru Kamoshida will be going to jail for a **very** long time. His testimony didn't do him any favors. Pass the message onto Ryuji if you'd like."

I don't waste any time in giving the good news to Ann and Ryuji. Right after dinner I pull them aside to let them know. It's not hard to find them. They're practically conjoined by the hip at this point. Their faces are a bit empty, impassive in their relief. Ann falls to her knees, crying into her hands. Ryuji pulls her into a hug but I can see him crying too. Retribution and justice. This moment is completely their own. Other people walk by but no one dares to disturb them. There is no space left for anything or anyone else.

I return to my room. More than anything, I wanted to get back to my own bed. It felt like an eternity since I had the chance to sleep in it. Unfortunately, when I open the door, another man is already occupying the thing. I throw my keys at him, slightly annoyed.

He catches the projectile without opening his eyes. An impressive feat though I'd never tell him out loud. "Missed you at dinner. Are you ever really sleeping or is this just a façade that you put up?"

"Closing my eyes helps me concentrate."

I'd suspected it for weeks. Regardless of how often I seemed to find him sleeping, no one was ever able to catch him by surprise. He played the part exceedingly well. His breathing was always slow and controlled. His lazy expression drew to mind a very long nap. Even now, I could almost pretend he was sleep talking. "Was he there?"

I shake my head in response to his question. Despite seeing all his friends quite frequently, he was always suspiciously missing, and now I knew why. "I've never seen him at any meals. Have you?"

Minato shakes his head. When I told him my suspicions, he didn't seem the least bit surprised. Then again, he didn't know the Butcher the same way I did. Apparently, the two of them have never even spoken to each other.

"Have you decided what you're going to do?"

I shake my head again. Clearly I was spending too much time with Minato, picking up all his bad habits.

My time in the hospital was mostly spent contemplating my options. There weren't many of them. I couldn't leave the cannibal to his own devices. Doing that the first time had gotten me and Ryuji almost killed. "I think…I think I want to talk to him." It seemed like the best option. The safest.

Minato quirks an eyebrow at me. "Do you think you can convince him to turn himself in?"

No. Not by a longshot. We weren't friends. It'd be an exaggeration to even call us acquaintances. He was little more than a familiar face in the crowd. I'd spoken to the man maybe two or three times in the month that I lived at this apartment. Everything I knew about him was through mutual friends.

"I just want to talk to him. Maybe if I talk to him I'll know what I should do."

Minto scoffs. _Good luck._

I resist the urge to punch him and instead drag my placid companion with me out the door. Yusuke and the blue-haired girl from the third floor are watching tv in our common room. The two of them turn to look at us as we walk by. Minato shoots her a silent call for help but she only smiles and waves him off.

The fourth floor is quiet. For whatever reason, the entire floor seems to be empty. There's quite a bit of noise coming from the floor beneath us but there's no sign of life where we stand. "You're being rash. You should think about this some more..."

I ignore him. This plan wouldn't affect him in any way. He had no reason to be so against it, but he's complete dead weight as I half-drag him to the hallway that houses all the rooms of the fourth floor's occupants. I was aware which rooms belonged to Kanji and Rise, but the rest of them were a mystery. I have the insufferable man read me each of the nameplates until I find the one I'm looking for.

The door is painted white with a yellow star in the middle. It's reminiscent of something you'd see in a TV studio for actors. "Come with me…"

"Pftt." _You'd need to drag my dead body through that door._ He sticks his hands into his pockets and strides in his lazy way back to the common room, plopping his skinny body onto the couch. He wasn't leaving at least. The guy was rude but he was a good friend.

I give the hallway one last look before proceeding to knock on the door. I didn't think he'd be in his room. He was a very social person. There was a fair chance he would be at the party downstairs with everyone else. So when he opens the door, I'm momentarily stunned.

"What a surprise! Why are you here?" There's a huge grin on his face, but it looks a touch sad. Did I imagine that or was he just a really good actor?

"Hey Teddie. Can I come in?" He moves out of the way, gesturing with his arm to sweep me into the room. It's a bit eccentric. The walls are painted a mellow yellow, like a lemon. His closet is about the same size as Minato's, but it's very fashionable. The clothes look like something from a magazine.

What catches my attention though is a fridge. It's the standard size, with a locked welded in to keep it shut. A child's drawings decorate it like something from a melodramatic family drama. On the opposite side of the room, there's a large glass shelf against one wall where a bunch of yarn bears are sitting in a variety of colors. Each one holds a framed photograph. I recognize one because it's identical to the one in Rise's room. Another shows the gang at the beach. Yosuke is in the center, imitating a pose from Dragon Ball. I can see Souji eating a bowl of noodles in another. The most prominent however, is of a little girl hugging the bear mascot of Junes. That same bear costume is propped up on a stand in the corner of the room.

I walk over to it, rubbing a hand over the fur. "Do you wear this for work?"

He laughs, sitting down on his bed. "Yeah! I'm the first, you know! Kanji made the costume based off of one of Nanako's drawings. She loved cute things like me!" He gestures to a beanbag chair in the corner. "Sit down if you want!"

I opt to stand so I can point at the picture of all his friends. The little girl in the picture stands out a lot more now. There was no one like her here at the apartment. I have no memory of this girl in my dreams. No mention of the name or the face. "Is this Nanako?"

He nods, his smile solemn. "She was 7 years old when she died. Isn't that sad?"

"How many times did you jump trying to save her?" I watch his face, trying to catch surprise, anger, any change in expression that tells me I should be wary. There is nothing. He is as calm and as earnest as before.

"I don't remember." He walks past me to grab the picture adjacent to the one I was pointing at: The one of just him and Nanako. Her smiling face is innocent and sweet. So very sweet. "She was beary kind to me."

"How did she die?"

"It started with a serial killer. He'd thrown her from the roof of Junes. Then he left her in a truck to die of dehydration. Then suffocation. Every time I went back, she'd die in a different way. In a different place. It drove me crazy. How could someone kill a little girl like her, over and over again? What kind of monster...

Teddie abruptly starts laughing as giant tears start rolling down his face. Madness. His entire being screamed of insanity. "It didn't make any sense, you know? So I gave up. Sensei was the one to learn about Adachi. He was always there. Every time. We were supposed to be friends so we told him everything." His grip on the picture tightens to the point that I'm almost afraid he might break the frame, but I do nothing to stop him. As heartless as it was, maybe this was what he needed. After all this time, did he talk to anyone about this? "I went back and we saved her from him. He went to jail... I thought it was over, but she died anyway. One week after we saved her, she fell asleep and just didn't wake up. Dead. After all that..."

He puts the photograph back in its original spot on the shelf and turns to me. "Her papa wouldn't eat. Wouldn't talk. He just broke down. He couldn't bear losing Nanako. None of us did. He died in his sleep, just like Nanako. Sensei hasn't been the same since."

I look back at the picture. There's a mature looking man in the back. He has a hand on Souji's shoulder while Nanako holds his hands. A picturesque happy family. "They were cousins but Sensei treated her like his little sister. She'd follow him everywhere calling him Big bro. Cute, right?"

"Yeah... Kids are like that." I honestly didn't know. My uncle Sojiro had a daughter a few years younger than me named Futaba but she was a recluse. I'd only ever seen her once at New Years despite all the family dinners we had.

"Yeah…I took this picture on Christmas. It was their last." The longing in his face is unmistakable. He sighs, and something in his demeanor changes. "But you're not here to listen to me talk about them, right?"

"I am."

He laughs, and it's bitter. Even scornful. "What do you really want?"

I grab him by the lapels of his fancy shirt. It's very chic. Even a little feminine. It's so unfitting with the monster I know. "I'm telling you the truth. I wanted to hear about Nanako. I wanted to understand the reason someone would willingly turn themselves into a cannibal!"

The tears continue to rain down his face. He makes no move to counter me. No move to even try and hurt me. He's the exact opposite of the cannibal I met on the roof. How?! How could they be the same person? How could this sorrowful man in front of me be a cold-blooded serial killer?

"I didn't know..." His tears grow ever more pathetic and I don't know if I should be sympathetic or disgusted. I drop him to the floor and he sinks, bowing his head to the ground as he cries. "I didn't want to kill anyone… I didn't have a choice…"

"Then go dig up a corpse or something! Why are you going after people who want to live?!"

Teddie recoils from me, crawling away like an insect. He curls into himself on the floor, chanting a hymn of lunacy "I don't... Everyone I've killed was suicidal... They were all going to die anyway... People don't eat food that's rotten... That's normal... Everyone's like that...Everyone eats animals. It's just a little different. He understands. Everything is okay..."

"She said I was a good bear... I'm not a bad bear...I'm not...Forgive me. Please forgive me." I understand none of it, nor do I want to. All of a sudden, he bolts onto his feet, pointing an accusatory finger at me. "It's your fault! You ruined everything! If you didn't come in when I was killing Sojiro-san, none of this would have happened!"

I kick him in the stomach, fury overriding all my senses. Teddie cowers, curling back into a ball to shield himself from my rage. I slam my foot into his side. Once. Twice. "Shut up! Uncle Sojiro would never do something like that!"

He laughs, a light chuckle that finally sounds like the murderer I'd grown so familiar with. He grabs my foot in midair, pushing me back so I fall against the wall. He's on me like an animal. He grabs my head and smashes it against the wall behind me. There's a loud crack and I'm not sure if it's the plaster or my skull. I see stars, dazed. He takes the opportunity to knee me in the stomach. My gut feels like it's about to rupture.

In between 48 seconds he's got me in an arm lock on my stomach while I struggle underneath him. "I sat in his café for weeks, watching him... He was going to lose his store. Some guy kept extorting him for money. His daughter kept herself locked in her room and never listened to him. You know he sent her away so she wouldn't be home when he hung himself. He'd been planning it for months."

"You have no idea what you're talking about..." I grunt, but somewhere in the pit of my stomach I can hear some truth in his words. How else would he have known about Futaba?

"I know everything! I know everyone's sadness! When Yukiko cried for her family, I was there! When Kanji died on the stairs, I saved him! When Sensei tried to kill himself, I saved him! I will keep saving them! No one else matters!"

For a minute I am stunned. It had been _him_. Teddie was the one who went back in time to save Kanji? What did he lose when he jumped? What more did a man like him have to give? "You eat people...How can you say no one else matters. You're a murderer." I know it's cold, even cruel to say something like this, but he couldn't be allowed to live. His humanity was disappearing in waves. Every time he jumped, he clearly slipped farther and farther into madness. Fear is riding through my system. If I couldn't kill him here, I'd find some other way. "You can try to kill me here, but I have someone who will report you to the police the moment you do."

He lets go of me, and it takes all my self-control not to attack him again. "I'm not going to kill you. I don't want my friends to be sad... When Eriko died, Yukiko and Rise cried for so long. They will definitely cry again if you die. I'm a good bear. A beary, beary good bear." His eyes seem to glaze over as he laughs. "I won't hurt you Akira... So don't hurt me anymore, please?"

I scramble to my feet, backing myself into the wall as a way of support. Could I kill him here? Was there anything in his room I could use as a weapon? Kanji's stuffed animals. Pictures of his friends. Kungfu movies from Chie. His room was a testament to the people he cared about. For someone as demented as him, it was surprisingly sweet. There were mementos from all his friends in nearly every corner. I scramble out and try not to think about the misery I would cause them.

Minato is waiting for me when I collapse onto the couch. _Didn't go well?_

* * *

 _"What do we do?" Yukiko is sobbing uncontrollably in front of me. I have not known her long, but she is nice and pretty. She is different from the girls I've met in class. Mature but childish. Fun. Why was a girl like her crying? She shouldn't cry._

 _"I can help!" I'm bouncing up and down in front of her. A child._

 _She turns to give me a sad, tear-filled smile. There is so much heartache on her face that it seeps into her very being. I do not understand it as a child. I do not understand it at all. "Akira... When people die, they don't come back. They're gone no matter how much we miss them."_

 _"I can bring them back! I can turn back time!" I cling to her in a way that only children who have a crush on someone much older than them do. I tell her my secrets in the hopes that it will get her to smile. What is five years to an eleven-year old? It is a lifetime. A bridge that can never be crossed._

 _Her smiles continue to drip with unhappiness and it causes an ache in my chest. Her hands pet my curly hair in a slow rhythm, like someone who is petting a comfort dog. I push her hand off in an act of ironic defiance. I would show her that I was capable. An adult. A man worthy of her time. But first, I needed to bleed._

* * *

I jolt awake. The dream fills in more pieces of my broken memories and I'm hasty when I make the recording. How long was I in Inaba? Yukiko was undoubtedly pretty, but had I actually been that idiotic once? A stupid naive child who would go back in time and save someone I didn't know, all to impress a woman who I clearly had no chance with.

My brain is still groggy with sleep but there is no more rest to be had. The curtains cover any glimpse of the sun but my clock tells me that it's nearing 6am. Early. Much earlier than usual but I had things to do. School was starting up again. It helped that the nightmares no longer came. There is no desire to sink further into my bed for protection. Learning the truth has given me the key to bravery. My mind is now my own.

School is a distracting affair. I give the simple and customary introduction at the beginning of class. Ryuji is not here, but I do get Ann. She isn't what some would call popular, but many people watch her admiringly. It is the final year of school but I pay little to no attention. Every waking moment is spent thinking about Teddie. How could I kill him? How could I rid the world of this monster?

He's out and about most days. In the morning he leaves for work with Yosuke, while I leave with Kanji and the other students for school. We all come home around the same time but Teddie disappears before dinner. There is no sign of the Butcher at the apartment. No inkling at all that he could be the cannibal. I see now how he's laid the foundation of his disguise. He is a "playboy". No one questions his nightly escapades. They think he's chasing skirts or making new friends.

The monster comes out once he leaves the apartment. Always. Always, he's looking for his next target. He takes the train into Tokyo. He walks for hours as if he doesn't need sleep. He walks the same path everyday and I begin to see what he sees. A haggard girl walking home after a long day of work. The drunkard going through a divorce. I follow him as he follows them. _Who will it be? Who will it be?_

He doesn't make his move. Days turn into weeks. I wonder if he knows I'm following him. He makes no move to show me that he's aware. He doesn't spend these outings alone. He does talk to people. A girl with a heavy backpack and deep bags under her eyes. A man trying to stay awake on the train after a long day at work. The teenager smoking cigarette after cigarette huddled in an alley. I see the calculation in his eyes. _Who is the easiest? Which one of them would make me feel the least guilty? How many people will cry at their funeral?_

I don't have the energy to follow Teddie while simultaneously going to school. It's exhausting. My mind breaks down with lack of sleep. My own calculations get cloudy. Minato refuses to help me. "I don't do murder."

His conviction is more obstinate than I expected. No amount of persuasion moves him.

So I plan by myself. Every night while everyone is at work or sleeping I follow Teddie and run scenarios with my phone on record. The moment he starts bleeding, Teddie will jump back in time. There was no chance of killing him with a knife. That left strangulation, electrocution, drowning and poison. Teddie didn't look particularly strong, but he was. Our battle on the roof proved he was much stronger than me. I couldn't beat him in a fight-head on.

That left poison. Poisoning someone who didn't eat normal food was hard. He drank water. That was normal enough. He doesn't leave the apartment without a water bottle. Plastic bottles cause unnecessary waste and pollution. Was there a chance I could poison his drink when he carried it around at all times? I had plenty of drugs from my stay in the hospital. Pain killers and sedatives.

I could knock him out, and then strangle him after. Death. Murder. I needed to kill him. Was there any other way? Was there enough evidence to get him convicted?

There was the fridge in his room. Did it house leftover body parts? How quickly did something like that spoil? A monster. He was a monster. He didn't kill people that often. 12 victims in 3 years. That was exactly 1 person every four months. No one could survive on that little sustenance, so what? He kept his victims refrigerated?

Night after night.

Day after day.

I check his room for a day he might not lock it. I try to break in. It never works. I learn nothing. All my thoughts are consumed with finding a way. There was no point in jailing him. He could always turn back time to escape.

"Aren't you Teddie Kumada?" It is now early June. After a night of walking through town, we're on our way back to the apartment. 12am. An older woman is sitting next to him on the half-full train. I can't see her face. The only indication of her age is a cane in her right hand.

"Oh?! What do we have here?! Are you a fan?!"

"Oh, no! Goodness, no." There's a sweet chuckle here, and fear courses through my system. "I have a granddaughter who loves your Bearytime Bear commercial. I was wondering if you could sign something for her?"

"Of course!" There is some shuffling but I keep my head down for the sake of anonymity. There is nothing of substance at all in their conversation. Mostly it is the old woman rambling about her grandchildren while Teddie keeps up the flow with seemingly, carefree questions. "I didn't know you lived in the Chofu area. We're neighbors then. My granddaughter will be so excited when I tell her. It's so very hard to get around in this town. Do you live in the commercial district?"

"No way. I couldn't bear to live over there. The beary place for me is the Velvet Apartments." His voice is polite, even friendly, but something about it sounds fake.

"Oh. You are very lucky. It is hard to get an apartment there. My children tried but the application was rejected. I live by myself near the airport. It's so loud. Makes it hard to sleep sometimes. Hard to get around when you live by yourself. Do you get enough to eat?"

There's no verbal response, but I assume Teddie nodded. "You're so skinny. I worry about my children too. They're a lot like you. Working all day and never coming home. I don't even see my Chisato anymore. " They get off the train together, and Teddie walks a short distance with the old woman before they reach his car. "Well, take care, young man."

"Wait! I'll give you a ride." The old woman seems a bit surprised but takes him on the offer. They disappear off into the distance and I have no doubt that this woman will disappear from the face of the earth. A victim of Teddie's choices. She would be leaving behind children, grandchildren. All with no meaning in the face of death. It only reaffirms my decision. Who knew when his next victim would be someone I knew? Someone I loved. He couldn't be allowed to live. I had to kill him. Death was the only escape from his rampage.

I finally get a chance in July.

It's sweltering outside. The heat has risen to catastrophic levels. The apartment does have AC but it is used conservatively which is to say never. The students have summer break but Ryuji is stuck in supplementary classes. I'm given the freedom to do my planning and espionage work at home. I'm on my way to the kitchen for a snack when I spot Kanji and Shinjiro fourth floor kitchenette marveling over a cookbook. "What are you guys doing?"

Kanji brightens at the sight of me and waves me over. "It's Chie's birthday tomorrow, and I'm baking her a cake."

This catches me off guard though I'm not sure why. Chie was a person. People had birthdays, "Does Teddie... eat with you guys?"

Kanji stares at me as if I'm crazy. "...Of course he does. Why wouldn't he?"

So they never noticed. How? "Do you guys do this every year?

"Yup."

Once a year. No. Kanji probably made cakes for all of his friends. At least seven cakes a year. Teddie ate them, but then what happened? Ideas weave together in my mind like a noose. "Can I help?"

Kanji and Shinjiro are both very good cooks. They command the kitchen in a way I don't expect. They supervise every step from start to finish. I'd crushed all my sedatives into a fine powder weeks ago but there is no chance to pour it onto the cake. The cake, once complete does look marvelous. It's made almost entirely of ice cream layered with fruit. There's a thin layer of blueberries and whipped creme on top.

However, Shinjiro doesn't look satisfied with his creation. A large frown creases his forehead. "It's missing something...Got any powdered sugar?"

Kanji digs through their cupboards but finds nothing. An idea springs to me. "I think we have some upstairs. Wait a second."

I sprint upstairs, pour the smallest amount of sugar into the sedative bottle, mix it with a toothpick, and run back down with my concoction. "I think this is it."

Kanji takes a quick whiff but smells nothing out of the ordinary. He dumps half the bottle over the cake and plate. With a final Chef's flourish, my masterpiece is complete.

My body is trembling in anticipation of the party. The fourth floor does not come to dinner. Margaret helps Souji and Kanji prepare for their little party. I walk up and down the stairs a few times to get a glimpse and work off some nervous energy.

Slow hours roll by as the men work. Kanji offers to let me join them, which I happily accept. The sedatives should knock them out quickly, but I wanted to be awake for the aftermath. There is some alcohol and the food looks delicious. Naoto is the first to return. Followed by Rise. Chie and Yukiko. Then Yosuke and Teddie.

Their party is a surprisingly loud affair. A few occupants from the other floors join us. Some people play cards. There's an older movie showing on the TV in the background. A lot of people sit on the ground and talk. One of the girls offers up to play Truth or Dare.

I join in to the best of my ability but I'm watching Teddie the entire time. He doesn't touch any of the food but there is a drink in his hands. He is as flamboyant as usual. In Truth or Dare he always chooses Dare. There's a lot of kissing and stripping which he seems to have no qualms with, male or female. All of it should be fun but I'm in no mood to enjoy it. Teddie is my only concern.

After an eternity, Kanji calls everyone over to cut the cake. He argues for singing the song in birthday tradition. We dim the lights, leaving the one candle placed in the middle to cast everyone's faces aglow. I see Chie roll her eyes but she claps her hands together to make a wish. It takes less than 2 minutes and the light is back on again. Kanji cuts everyone a piece of the cake.

Teddie gets his piece pretty late. I can see he's talking to Yukiko with the plate in his hand, untouched. I walk over to join them. "How's the cake, Teddie? Kanji made it yesterday afternoon. It good, isn't it?"

Shock. Anger. And then a touch of panic. All the emotions flit across face and I know I've got him trapped. Yukiko doesn't notice the tension. She's oblivious as she devours her own piece of cake. "It's so gooood. Did you get one, Akira?"

"I ate mine already." The lie comes easily. I'd prepared for this scenario beforehand. "The blueberries were a nice touch. Why don't you take a bite Teddie?"

"I'm...allergic." He forces a smile back onto his face, getting back into character. "I can't bear the chocolate!"

"No, you're not!" Yukiko laughs and I wonder how much she's had to drink tonight. "Remember in high school when you begged all the girls to make you chocolate."

"Nope. Never happened." He seems to relax. Maybe he'd made the same conclusion I did about Yukiko's drunken state. " _I_ wouldn't need to ask girls for chocolate. They just hand them over."

He was diverting her attention. A good plan, but I wouldn't be fooled. I turn around looking for my back up. "Hey! Kanji! Teddie doesn't want to eat your cake!"

Teddie grabs my arm, pulling me to him, hissing. "What are you doing?!"

I push him off as Kanji storms over. "Ted! What's with that? You got something against my cake?!"

"No! No!" I can see him swallow nervously. "I'm just not hungry."

"Not hungry? You know, I haven't really seen you eat anything all night. Are you sick? Should I call a doctor?" Yukiko continues to giggle, but there's some sobriety to her words. Everything was going perfectly. This was working. I was close. So close.

"No! No..." He looks at me again, and now I can see rage as well. There's a sick sense of joy in trapping an animal and watching as it struggles only to be further entangled in the mesh. He was losing it. Trapped in my web. "I'll give it a taste."

He takes one bite out of the top. Then another. He chews for longer than absolutely necessary but I do see his throat move when he swallows. "It's good! Bearriffic Kanji!" Kanji slaps him on the arm.

"Why are you surprised?! I've been making you guys snacks for years!"

Yukiko laughs uncontrollably. Teddie makes no move to take another bite but I egg him on. "Shouldn't waste your food Teddie. Yukiko's already finished hers."

He takes another bite, not even bothering to chew this time. A bear trap. Closing on the foot of its prey.

Yukiko laughs and spins her empty plate a bit before it joins the others in the sink. She wobbles as she walks, an effect of the drugs or the alcohol, I'll never know. I can see the same effect on the others. People all around us are yawning, saying goodbye and heading back to their floor. Chie and Yosuke are already asleep. Huddled on the floor. Rise seems about to keel over as well, and Kanji rushes over to catch her. "I'm going to take her back to her room! Party's over guys!"

Yukiko yawns, wobbling as she walks back to her room. Souji lifts her up in a princely sweep and carries her out. Teddie rushes to throw the remnants of his cake in the trash. I don't stop him. Three bites? Would that be enough? He showed no signs of exhaustion. He is breathing heavily, clearly in pain. "I told you to leave me to my bearsome. I was going to be a good bear. You..."

"Let's talk about this in my room. No need to make a scene in front of your friends." I point to Chie and Yosuke's immobile bodies huddled a few feet away.

There's a low growl from the base of his throat as his face twists from an innocent man into the Butcher. It only strengthens my convictions. He needed to die.

Teddie turns away from me, running for the end of the hall. I think he's heading for his room but he runs into the men's bathroom, throwing up the cake into the nearest toilet. The bile bears no resemblance to its original form. It comes up as a bubbling gooey mess like the potion of a witch. Mixed in is what looks like blood. His own or his victim's, I'll never know.

He retches again and this time, it's purely blood and saliva. He collapses onto the floor next to the toilet, his breathing shallow. Blood dribbles down his chin. His eyes, when he looks at me, hold no conscious thought. He's slipping. Within the next five seconds his head thunks on the floor as foam bubbles in his mouth.

One. Two. Three. Four. Five. I count the seconds in my head. Nothing moves. Nothing sounds. No pain in my chest. My memories are intact. No one jumped then. I bend down to check his breathing. Nothing. No pulse. Dead? How? From eating the cake? Impossible. Was this how his body naturally reacted to food?

I walk back outside and a wave of noise hits me. Souji has his phone to his ear as he runs from door to door kicking them open. "VELVET APARTMENTS! YES! I SAID YES! I DON'T KNOW. Yukiko! Shit! Yukiko! Wake up!"

The girl looks like she's having a seizure as she convulses on the floor of her room. I rush in to join him. "What happened?!"

"I don't know! I was about to put her in bed when she started thrashing around! Chie is throwing up in the living room!" Souji puts the phone back to his ear. "I don't know how many ambulances! Just get me as many as you can!"

I run back into the living room where I can see Chie is crawling her way to the trashcan. I pull her up, practically carrying her over to the sink so she can empty her bowels.

Yosuke and Naoto are still asleep. No adverse effects yet. What was going on? There's no way my sedatives did all this. I took them before and they were fine. I just fell asleep. There was nothing like this.

I pat Chie's back and she sinks to the floor, looking ill, but alive. In the next minute, Kanji is storming into the room carrying Teddie over one shoulder and Rise over the other, the same panicked look as Souji on his face. "Did you call an ambulance?!"

"Souji did!"

"Help me carry everyone downstairs!

It's a little difficult, but Chie can walk against the railing. I grab Naoto while Souji hauls Yukiko and Yosuke. When we pass the third floor I wonder about Akihiko and Ryuji. They were also at the party but there is no movement now. No sign of trouble at all. They was probably fine. Hopefully.

A few ambulances are waiting for us when we get outside. The light is shinning brightly but there's no siren. We load everyone in while we each get into one ourselves. I'm in the same car as Teddie. A paramedic checks his pulse and his vitals but I already know the result even without the flatline. Teddie is long gone.

We're the last to arrive at the hospital. A quick check in the ambulance shows that I'm completely fine. Souji and Kanji are the same. They're in the waiting room. Kanji is pacing while Souji sits on the floor. "How's Teddie?"

I shake my head, hiding my face. I try to keep my face blank, impassive. Souji shows no reaction but Kanji breaks down, crying and slamming his fists against the wall until a nurse forces him to stop. "This is a hospital!"

Chie comes out with a nurse. She's wobbly, but relatively okay. They've put her in a hospital gown. She'll need to stay the night. Naoto is still asleep but she's fine as well. Rise had her intestines pumped, but she would be released tomorrow. The three of us sit in the lobby, waiting for news of Yukiko and Yosuke. We lose our sense of time. There is a clock but I don't look at it.

Kanji loses his patience first, grabbing the first unfortunate nurse who walks by for answers. "How are our friends?!"

She tries to flee like a cornered animal, but Kanji's death grip is unforgiving. "I-I-I-I'm sorry, sir. Our doctors are trying their best."

"How the fuck did this happen?! One minute we were having a party, and the next, everything goes crazy!"

The nurse feverishly checks a few notes on her clipboard, ripping some sheets in her haste. "Eep! Al-al-Alcohol sir. It looks like your group mix-mixed alcohol and some very strong medications and their bodies reacted badly. There's always a danger in mixing substances. We put it on every label!"

White noise fills my ears. I don't hear Kanji as he continues to yell at the nurse. I don't hear the doctors when they come out of the ER to give us the news. I don't hear Chie as she breaks down behind me, her despair throwing her into a frenzy that requires she be sedated and carted back to her hospital bed. I don't hear Souji as he collapses onto the floor, a man broken by the loss of everything he loves. I don't hear the sound of the bed as they roll Yukiko's lifeless body away.

No. I don't hear anything at all. Teddie was dead. That's all that mattered. I'd saved countless lives tonight. What were two or three people for the price of all those lives? They were nothing. A soundless drop in the ocean. Their skulls were pennies for gold. I was Justice.

Justice made right.

 **BAD END**

* * *

 **You have reached your second ending.** **Thank you for following Akira's journey through the Velvet Apartments. MVP this** **playthrough** **: Lilli**

 **Achievements Acquired:**

 **Lovers Quest Line Complete!**

 **Cannibal Caught!**

 **Completion: 7%**

 **Congratulations on completing your first playthrough of the Velvet Apartments. Through your** **diligent** **work and logical reasoning, you have completed Akira's story. However, the secrets of the Velvet Apartments do not end here. You may start the journey again in New Game+ using characters you've unlocked. {Requirements: Motivation x10}**

 **[Replay?]**

 **[Change Characters] {Minato Arisato} , {Teddie} , or {Soji Seta. His name will be changed to Yu Narukami for his playthrough}**


	14. Meeting the Team (2)

**New Game {Start}**

 **You have Selected: Minato Arisato**

 **Parameter Requested: Deletion of Minako Arisato**

 **Parameter Denied. She is a vital NPC to his storyline.**

 **Current Stats: Minato Arisato's stats do no change throughout his playthrough with the exception of his bonds and sanity.**

 **Knowledge (Permanent stat): 9**

 **Strength (Permanent stat): 10**

 **Agility (Permanent stat): 3**

 **Accuracy** **(Permanent stat)** **: 8**

 **Durability (Permanent stat): 8**

 **Sanity (Permanent stat): 5**

 **Your progress with Akira's story will NOT affect your game.**

 **Bonds:**

 **Minato's bonds with other members of the Velvet Room do NOT increase. Your actions throughout his game can only cause them to DECREASE.**

 **Minato's bonds with those who live outside the Velvet Room CAN increase. You may find familiar names throughout the game.**

 **Time Rewind:** **Minato will not use this ability under any circumstances. Any character death in this route will be permanent.**

 **Sanity: Should Minato's Sanity ever drop below 2, the game will immediately commence the BAD END.**

 **Your route has been rewritten. New sequences will be created every two weeks.**

 **New Game commencing in 3,2,1...**

* * *

 _There's an apartment building at the top of a very long hill that's supposed to be haunted. They say that all its inhabitants are special. Blessed with incredible powers and cursed with horrible fates. Its occupants are neither gods nor monsters. They're something else altogether. Something inexplicable. Dangerous. There's one girl in particular who lives on the third floor. She's a succubus, charming the men around these parts. Even the most innocent man, once they fall into her hands becomes a mindless husk, listening to every word she says..._

Kona's back is pressed against mine. I can feel her body tremble as she builds into her request. Is she afraid? Impossible. My sister feared nothing. An act maybe. "We...We want you to go back. Go back with me to 2009. Help me save everyone and clear Ryoji's name."

"I…What? That's crazy! I couldn't do that…No. No!" Akira's rebuttal is almost sane. Compared to Kona, at least he was making all the logical choices, and the boy was clearly on the losing end of that spectrum. The kid was twitchy, jumping at the smallest amount of noise. He never kept his eyes to one place. They darted around like an animal on the wrong side of the hunt.

"Wait! You don't need you to answer us now. Take some time to think it over." My sister's little tricks worked on everyone. She was probably better suited for my job than I was. Watching her in action was like watching Mamoru on the field. "I know there's a lot of risk for you, but please…give it some thought. Ryoji deserves a second chance."

Anger is a funny emotion. Sometimes it just comes. The reason might be petty or there might be no reason at all. The balance of it is strange, almost like a mug that tips over by itself. The water that pours out flows without destination or direction, simply seeping out until its volume has stretched itself to its limit.

"I can't do it."

"We can help you." Mochizuki's voice is like silk. Soft. Mesmerizing. Like a fairy lulling you into a devil's contract. There is little difference between the two "If you need to jump in the future, we can help you remember the gaps that open up in your memory. We can help you fight the cannibal and prep you better. Mina and Sa- I mean Minato can help you find him."

Who was he to make promises in my stead? Who was he to group me in with them? I had no part in this. This kid's blood wouldn't be on my hands.

Akira's weight shifts as he tries to escape. "I can't do this. I don't know how this time traveling thing even works. What if I lose the ability to jump again or some crazy thing happens?"

Kona reaches over to grab his arm, holding him in place. Another one of her tricks. She knew she was pretty. What man would be able to turn her down when she turned her charm up to ten. Even her own brothers weren't immune. No incest though. That's disgusting eight ways to Sunday. "Wait! We'll tell you anything you want to know. We'll help you in any way we can now to make it a fair deal."

He seems to relent because in the next second, I can feel him move back into position. "What...what did you guys lose when you jumped?"

I begin to play _Burn My Dread_ by Yumi Kawamura in my head to drown out Mochizuki's spiel. A simple enough melody to conjure. It blankets his enthusiasm. This little speech could almost be mistaken for bragging. Especially when you considered how long and insignificant it was. God how I wished he would stop. Actually, no. I take that back. He could keep going. Once he stopped, it would be Kona's turn and that would be worse. I drown out her misery too.

They continue to alternate their tactics of persuasion, slowly breaking down the mental barriers of their poor victim. Kona's use of the Ellsberg Paradox is especially impressive, "It's safer to go back in time with me than to face the unknown risk of fighting the cannibal alone. We have all the events of the fall mapped out to a T."

They go back and forth for over an hour until Akira claims exhaustion and Kona lets him go for the day. Once the door clicks shut behind him Kona pounces on me, throwing her fat ass onto my hip.

"Ow."

"If you weren't going to help, the least you could do was shut up."

I did shut up. That's why I was pretending to sleep for the past hour and a half while they tried to trick the kid into giving up his whole life. "..."

"It's okay, Kona. Sa-chan didn't do that much damage."

I growl, pushing Kona to the foot of the bed so I can sit up. I use more force than absolutely necessary and my sister nearly falls over the edge."Get out of my room."

Mochizuki laughs again rocking back in his seat. "C'mon. I was just kidding".

"I can't kill you, but I _will_ beat the shit out of you. Out. Now." His laughter only gets louder and I stand up to make good on my threat when Kona reaches up to grab me by the neck, holding me in place. She is freakishly strong for a girl.

Mochizuki mimes wiping tears from his eyes but he gets up to leave anyway. "You should learn to respect your elders."

I growl again, biting back the urge to kick his face in. The guy was literally four minutes older than me. Even if that weren't true, he didn't deserve my respect. Kona's grip on my neck only gets tighter, and I'm almost ready to die from lack of oxygen when she finally lets go. "I wish the two of you would be nicer to each other."

Never. Every fight was his fault. Everything from his face to the way he talked was aggravating. "You almost killed me. For that scum. I don't have any brothers Kona. Remember that."

"Aniki!" She looks like she's ready to deal a heavy scolding but then simply sighs. Unexpected, but I'd take my wins where I could get them.

She crawls under my sheets. I move back to my piano to give her space. The beautiful instrument was her present to me on our 22nd birthday. I made it a point to never celebrate it but Kona was adamantly my opposite in every way. She bought us-me a gift every year.

Kona only takes up half the bed. A habit that she never grew out of despite the fact that we no longer need to share, and haven't even slept in the same bed for well over 15 years.

She watches me for a few minutes but her eyes refuse to stay open. It doesn't take her long before she drifts off. I continue to play until I'm sure she won't suddenly wake up.

I once loved sleeping. It's like dying without the commitment. I yearn for the days of yore when I could close my eyes and fall asleep. Instantly. Regardless of where I was or what I was doing. No dreams or pestering sisters. Simply Music and Darkness. Tis bliss. In the form of 20-minute naps.

I lost the ability when I was 18. It didn't disappear all at once. It started a few hours at a time. I'd wake up a little earlier every morning. Roll around a little later every night until I couldn't do it at all. I've been awake for 61,397 hours soon to be 61,398. I've heard people go insane if they don't sleep. I could understand that concept easily enough.

I check my pager and sigh. One benefit of not needing sleep is the ability to work 60-80 hours a week. Whoop-de-doo. I send a message back to Tanaka and get ready for work. Despite the quiet of the room, my mind is loud.

Plenty of people worked nights here, but they'd all be gone by now. Surprisingly, Fuuka and Koromaru are sitting in the living room when I walk out. The dog is getting old. I don't know how many years he has left. We try to keep him as close as possible. I give his fluffy ears a good scratch before I leave. Fuuka doesn't even acknowledge my presence, too absorbed in whatever it is she's doing.

It takes about an hour to drive to Roppongi Hills where Tanaka Corp is located. The building is dark when I walk in. Despite the generous earnings he made every year, my boss is as frugal as ever. That meant the lights never turned on. His rule, not mine. I tell the employees this every Wednesday.

Several of the employees are falling asleep at their cubicle. I don't bother waking them. Let them sleep. If they didn't make their quota for the month, it'd be their ass anyway.

"Minato! What took you so long?" Nothing. There is nothing in this world save a jetpack that would have gotten me here faster.

"..."

"Dark Net Tanaka is a hit. We need to expand. The masses are eating up the products by the thousands." He starts into a monologue where I catch every other word. Lesson one in being a good employee: It doesn't matter what your boss says. Just answer his questions. If you don't know what to say, the correct answer is always "Let me check."

"What's the current stock for a new client?"

Being the long-standing employee that I am, I do not need to say "Let me check." It is a given. I'm already going over the stocklist before he has a chance to call me rude. "...Condensation lenses, Herbs of Nirvana, Black Stones, Black Cloth, and Hercule's Anklets."

He continues to prattle on with the supply list while I go over the employee payroll for the month. Tanaka is more or less a figurehead at this point. I managed everything in this company. From supply to promotions to human resources, I'd sunk my claws into everything.

"Oh, and what happened to Lisa?"

"I fired her."

"WHAT?!" He slams his palms down onto the table in an act of anger. I had prepared for this conversation weeks ago.

"She was huffing crack in the 3rd floor bathroom." I throw a few screencaps of the company group chat onto his desk. They were all doctored of course. Fuuka is really handy with computer. Lisa didn't do anything at all. For the most part, she was excellent at her job. I just didn't like her. Something about the way she talked made me want to punch her. Repeatedly.

Luckily though, I didn't **REALLY** need to fire her.

"Hmph..." He nods appreciatively, giving the photos little more than a glance. "Who did you hire to take her place?"

"Rise Kujikawa will take over the promotions. I've already talked it over with her agent. We're cutting the budget by more than 10,000 yen thanks to the change." We continue to go through all the ridiculous items on his docket in his attempt to catch up with the company progress. There would be no point. While the man enjoyed pretending to work, he loved making money more. Television commercials, interviews, and income reports were his three favorite past-times. I lined his calendar with so many TV appearances and classes he barely has time to breathe. The only slots I leave open are for his wife and she does a wonderful job of distracting him.

"You're supposed to meet the wife this morning for tea." I hold up a calendar I'd made and had Kona color code on a whim. The thing looked professional enough thanks to the rainbow of coloring. The only use for her obsession with highlighters.

He checks the plastic clock on his desk and then his watch. Redundancy at its finest. Both of them tell him he's late. "Tell Minako I said hello, and set a date where the two of us can get dinner. I haven't seen your sister in months." I nod, handing him the rest of his calendars for the week and pushing him out the door. My boss in name and teacher in the fine art of swindling. You'd think he'd be able to spot his own technique when he saw it.

By the time he leaves, the morning employees are strolling in. The main office is more or less a 24/hour call center. People call in, we sell them something, and the accounting department cleans up the aftermath. If there's a complaint, we take care of that too. We get those fairly often. Many people like to complain that we're a scam.

We are. No doubt. The biggest scam of this century. We sell something called hope. Something you can't see, smell, or use. Complete garbage in its entirety. You'd be surprised what people would pay for an ounce of it in their system.

It's well past noon when I call Chihiro Fushimi into my office. She is my junior secretary. After high school, she'd gone to college while I went straight here to work for Tanaka. Seeing her resume in my hiring pool had been a shock but she was by far the most qualified for the job.

"Yes, Arisato-san?"

"Did you authorize this?" I throw a printout onto the top of my desk. "My intel at Nanjo hospital emailed me this morning to ask why our donations had been cancelled."

Her eyes grow wide in shock, and the confident persona she developed after our brief time together shattered into a million pieces. She was once again, the embarrassed shrinking violet I'd known when I met her. "I-No. Yes. I-It's not what you think! I'm only trying to help you!"

Her outfit is quite eye-catching. Her bosom only continued to grow as the years went by. Despite her professional way of dressing, it is still immensely seductive. Blue blazer. White blouse. Short skirt. Long legs. High heels. She is a prime target at the office. More than once, I'd heard the men gossiping about our relationship.

When I stand up, she takes an involuntary step back. The door to my office is closed. The two of us are alone. In my domain. I slam my hand onto the door. She jumps. Squeaking a bit in her fear. On heels, she's 2 centimeters taller than me, but that difference is melted away in my anger. "Try this again, and you're fired. No questions asked. Do you understand?"

She nods, her head bobbing like a toy. Clearly afraid. She continues to nod until I take a step back. This seems to be enough to clear her mind, because she stands up to her full height and advances on me like a teacher. She stops just short of running into me. "Wait! No! You're using company funds for a personal matter! I have every right to cancel this donation!"

"..." Technically, she is not wrong, but she would not rat me out to Tanaka because she would lose. The money donated to Nanjo Hospital is always returned to us. Every year. Not a single patient in that facility ever left without one of our products. Any complaints she had would be dismissed and the end result would be the same.

"Minato-kun..."

"Don't call me that." I'd permitted it for a grand total of four weeks in 2009. Those days and feelings are long gone, buried beneath the ash of our school.

"Why can't you let go? I'm still here. We can go back to the way things were. I can forgive you... We can start over."

She's stuttering. Forcing the words out. I let her go through everything she wants to say. I give her my time. My incomplete attention. For a full 4 minutes, I listen to every word. Everything I do not care to hear. None of it matters to me. It is not for me. It is for her. When she is done, tears are streaming down her face, painting her beautiful cheeks a rosy red. Her long lashes flutter under her glasses. She takes in deep breaths as if she's just won a marathon.

I stand to tilt her chin in my hands. She's still a bit taller, but she's looking at me as if I'm a giant. She shrinks into herself, resembling the girl she'd once been. "I will never want you."

The tears come down faster and she bursts out of my office, her pounding steps sending 80% of my subordinates' attention in her direction. Eikichi Mishina claps a few times to get everyone's attention, pushing them back to work. My senior assistant and the slightly more emotional of the two. Surprisingly. He bounds into my office, closing the door behind him. "Couldn't you have been a little nicer about it? She has a point you know."

"Get out."

He ignores me. Unsurprisingly. I should have fired him years ago for insubordination. Damn him for being amazing at his job. "If you keep this up, no one will ever marry you."

I collapse into my chair, exhausted with the charade. With Eikichi, it was almost like having another sister. "Worry about yourself. Where's Lisa?"

The two of them were old friends. I'd only hired her because he'd bugged me about it for weeks. Rise had been the easier choice from the beginning but I didn't mind giving Eikichi small favors. Lisa had been doing a fairly decent job until she disappeared literally 48 hours before the shooting of her final promo. The huffing crack in a bathroom story was my way of punishing Eikichi for not keeping a better eye on her.

"...That's a low blow, babe."

"... I haven't even brought up Tatsuya yet."

"I hope you die alone." He disappears back into his cubicle, leaving me to my peace.

I shift through our company drafts for another two hours before I feel my attention fade away into the aether. I dump my paperwork on Eikichi's desk halfway through the workday and leave. Chihiro doesn't look at me when I walk out. She pointedly avoids any eye contact. Her cheeks are puffy and red but her make up does a fine job hiding it. Several of her co-workers surround her desk. All men. Good luck to them.

One benefit of being the boss is no one ever asking me where I'm going. I could be selling organs on the black market for all anyone in the office knows. I leave my car in the company parking lot and walk the twenty minutes to Takemi Medical Clinic. Takemi is an on-call pharmaceutical doctor at Nanjo Hospital, but she runs her own clinic out of the first floor of her home.

The bell of the door rings with my arrival. The clinic is full to the brim with patients. Many of them older citizens and immigrants. Takemi accepted everyone. If the patients had insurance, she overcharged those companies while charging the smallest of fees to those without. Her nurse, Yuzu Tanikawa, signs me in, rushing me behind the counter. "You're not supposed to come here during the day!"

The two of us are fairly familiar with one another. I come to the clinic often and Yuzu works 5 days a week. Overtime most days. Some nights, the three of us will even eat dinner in the back before her boyfriend comes to pick her up. "...I'm not staying long."

The two of us chat for a few minutes before Takemi appears from the back room. Exhaustion lines her face, but she looks happy. Fulfilled. She doesn't even notice me sitting in her chair until Yuzu points me out.

"You're early this month."

"..."

"I've run through some more tests but I can't make much progress without a subject. I need a human body."

"..."

"We've hit this roadblock before, Minato. If you're not willing to let me try my medications on her, there's nothing more I can do. Find someone else."

I don't even contemplate the thought. "Does it need to be her, or can you try the drugs on anyone?"

Takemi sighs, clearly seeing where my thoughts are headed. "I could theoretically test it on you, but the data wouldn't be nearly as good. If I can test her reaction to the medication I can tweak it specifically for her."

I nod. "Tomorrow."

Takemi shakes her head. "Fine. Don't say I didn't warn you. I'm donating your organs to the people out there when you die."

"...Should you really be saying that? You're a doctor."

"I'm also a realist. There's a not-impossible chance of you dying if there's something wrong with these drugs. Not to mention any chemical imbalances. Is it really worth it? After all this time, why can't you let her go?"

"..." She knew why. Everyone did. There was never any need for these questions. I schedule my visit tomorrow with Yuzu. Takemi goes back to her examination room. Slightly huffy. She'd clear the clinic for me tomorrow but that wouldn't be necessary. I could always come after hours.

The walk to Nanjo hospital isn't very long. About 10 minutes. More than enough time to think. Clear my head. Was there any other answer? What would I give to get her back? Everything. Which meant there ever was only one answer.

"Minato!"

My head snaps to attention at the sound of my name. I'm standing in the lobby of Nanjo Hospital. My ten-minute walk. Over in the blink of an eye. Time means nothing to someone who doesn't sleep.

It takes a few minutes before I see a short man with glasses waving me over. I try my best not to shove people out of the way to reach my old friend, Keisuke Hiraga. His longtime girlfriend, Sayoko Uehara stands on his left and I fail in resisting the urge to make fun of them. "Flirting on the clock?"

Sayoko laughs but Keisuke starts blushing up to his ears. "Seriously? Here again? Don't you have a job?"

"I work more hours than you do."

"If you call what you do work."

I don't see Keisuke that often. He's a huge workaholic. It doesn't help that the two of them go on annual mission trips to Africa whenever they collect enough vacation time. It's something of a struggle to find him but we keep in touch the way adults do. Coffee twice a year and promises of dinner that we never keep. We have an agreement to turn me into an art display when I inevitably die of a heart attack. "You're never going to graduate from Med school if this keeps up."

"It doesn't take a degree to help people." His smile is genuine, free of worry. He'd failed his medical exam twice already, but that tidbit mattered little to his patients.

We banter a bit more as we catch up. He's doing well for himself. "Oh, we're getting married in two months. You should come. Bring Mina and the whole gang if you'd like. Hidetoshi will be there too."

I nod appreciatively. About time. I didn't believe in marriage but the two of them were die hard traditionalists in that regard. They met one another on one of their mission trips close to four years ago. "Did you get Sayoko pregnant or something?"

Keisuke groans. "That is why you can't get a girlfriend." Sayoko's laughter immediately ceases and she elbows him in the ribs.

"Unf," He looks at her, then at me. Realization at what he's said dawns on his face. His expression immediately turns guilty. "Sorry...Hey. I hear she's doing better." His eyes are sympathetic, a little sad behind his glasses.

"Thanks. But you should know me better by now."

He nods, his eyes dropping to the floor. "You're right...Sorry."

I pat him on the shoulder and we say our goodbyes. I promise to bring my sister and Souji to their wedding. Sayoko is scolding him in a harsh whisper once I'm "out-of-the-earshot". Mother, fiance, and nurse. She was his perfect match in every way.

I take the familiar path up to my destination. A few nurses bow to me as a walk by. Unfamiliar faces. They put a lot of the new girls in this ward. It's easy to train them into a routine when nothing happens. Room 320 is at the end of the hall. The smallest and only private room on the floor. The card on her door is a bit more outdated than the others. Untouched. Withered. I knock despite knowing no one will answer me. Force of habit.

The room is dark. Almost musty. Few people come into her room. Why would there be a parade? Everyone has already given up on her. She's been catatonic for years. 8 surgeries and 4 transplants did nothing to help her. There isn't much of her left anyway. Her arms and legs had been blown away in the Fall.

Ryoji did this to her. Everything was his fault.

I wipe down the cabinets, table, and rolling bed. Then I move onto the gears that hold her metallic arms to the flesh of her torso. How long has it been since I've looked into her clear blue eyes? She doesn't move. She doesn't breathe. The oxygen tank is what's pushing her lungs into motion. The slow melodic rhythm of a vitals monitor beats in sync with the pounding of her heart.

 _*beep*_

 _*beep*_

 _*beep*_

 _*beep*_

 _*beep*_

Her short blond hair has grown long over the years. I don't cut it anymore. It reminds me that time is moving. It reminds me that she's still alive. A part of her is still changing of its own volition. Her face has not aged since high school. It is the only thing that remains of the girl I once knew. I push her bangs aside so I can look into her face. Beautiful in her slumber. Death without the commitment.

"Come back to me, Aigis."

* * *

 **Due to your achievements so far you may add a bonus to this playthrough. Please pick ONE: {You may choose to play this route without a bonus}**

 **\- Lock pick ability**

 **\- Fuuka Bond 10**

 **\- Munehisa Iwai Rank 4**

 **\- Sanity +2**

 **[Flag] Test the new medication? {Requirement: Sanity -1 Default} , Let Takemi test it on Aegis {Requirement: Sanity -1 & Bravery x4} , Do not Test it at all {Bravery x8 Sanity +1} **

**[Freetime] Minato has some free time. What should he do with it? (Each player may input ONE response. All unnamed Guests equal one Player)**


	15. Snowing in May (1)

**Input processed.**

 **Minato's stats do not change.**

 **Sanity Down [4]**

 **Bonus Acquired: Fuuka Rank 10.**

 **Sequence Commencing...**

* * *

I didn't peg Akira for a stupid kid. When Elizabeth helped me break into his room, I realized I was wrong. Akira, wasn't just stupid. He was stupid _and_ naive. For one thing, he kept a journal of all his time traveling exploits. Not only did he not realize his dreams were all visions of another timeline, but he left it out in the open like no one would look at it. Elizabeth was notorious for looking through the possessions of the tenants. A few years ago, pictures of Rise's diary showed up on kitchen fridge. That night most of the girls at the apartment had a bonfire in the backyard. "He can't get his body back."

Akira seems momentarily taken aback, his glasses sliding off his face. His next question isn't to ask me how I know that or why he should believe me, but to wonder how I got into his room. A stupid question, really. Would it matter if I broke his lock or picked it? The only thing that mattered was his room wasn't secure. A weakness of overthinking was missing everything that was important.

"So you really don't want me to go back, even though we could save Ryoji? Isn't he your brother?" I wouldn't want him to go back even if he could save Ryoji. Especially if he could save Ryoji.

Kona wouldn't go back alone. As fearless as she was, all of the confidence she had amassed in the 16 years before the Fall disappeared in a single instant when Ryoji was blown to pieces.

"Do you know what the Butterfly Effect is?"

"I...think so. It's that thing where it says if a butterfly flaps its wings, it might make a hurricane on the other side of the planet, right?"

I nod. All actions are chained. If you do something, anything at all, a reaction is sure to follow. If Kona goes into the past with Akira, there is no telling what kind of future they would make. They themselves wouldn't know. It wouldn't be as simple as going back in time and stopping Chidori. Anything could happen. He would be going back seven years and he would probably want to relive all seven years of his life. That's too many variables for one kid to test.

Akira seems to understand this because he doesn't ask how the question is relevant to our conversation. We don't say anything else to one another. I don't bother feigning sleep anymore and we sit in silence until I leave his room. I've always believed that silence speaks louder than words.

With my side adventure complete, I take a quick shower before driving back to work. The office is emptier in the evenings. Chihiro has already gone home, but Eikichi is still sitting at his desk, a glass of red wine twirling in his hand. My paperwork sits at the corner next to the bottle. "Back already?"

I grab the closest copy of the company policy and throw it on his desk. Somewhere in there is a rule that prohibits him from his alcoholism but everyone knows I won't give him the pink slip for something so trivial. He follows me into my office, crashing onto my couch. By some miracle, he does't spill a single drop of wine on my carpet.

"Did you really need to say those things to Chihiro?"

I sigh. It's been a really long day and I REALLY wasn't in the mood, "..."

"She really does love you. She has pictures of you stickered in her planner like a schoolgirl. It's kinda creepy, but also super cute. Give her a chance."

"Did you finish the drafts for simulation testing?"

"Don't try to change the subject. Isn't it about time you let go? She's not coming back." He takes a long drag of his glass and I resist the urge to snatch it out of his hands. I take a deep sigh before opening the small fridge underneath my desk. Sure enough, I was missing a bottle of wine. Thief. I would live without it.

"She's not dead."

"She might as well be." I say nothing and he sighs, putting his wineglass down on a side table. "I'm not trying to be mean. We all care about you, love. Chihiro especially. You're the embodiment of perfection to her. You could do no wrong. Even after everything you said to her, she couldn't tear up those pictures."

"I'm not a god Eikichi..."

"I know. I know it's hard to live up to everyone's expectations. Trust me, hon, I know. You don't need to be with Chihiro. Just...Try to let her down lightly, okay? She's a sweetheart. I hate seeing her cry."

I sigh again, but relent with a nod. He offers me a small smile, kissing me on the cheek before leaving my office to clean up his cubicle for the day. I lean over the divider to watch him. "How's your dad?"

"He's alright. You know how he is. I don't think I'm moving back to the apartments anytime soon."

Eikichi once lived on the second floor of the Velvet Apartments after running away from home due to his father's extreme homophobia. We became fairly well-acquainted almost immediately after I moved in. (It was entirely because we both had blue hair). I hired him as an office boy but he proved to be an amazing support character within weeks of entering the office. He's been my right hand ever since. This has held true even after he moved out last year when his father fell ill.

"Have you found Lisa?" I try to force all the emotion out of my voice this time to formulate it as a serious question. If there was even a hint of emotion, Eikickhi would think I was joking. Lisa and I were never close. Even when she lived at the Apartments, she enjoyed mocking Eikichi too often for me to like her. Her abrasive attitude was too much for me to handle.

He looks up to double check and make sure I'm not mocking him before he answers, "...No. I went to her apartment to check on her but she's not there. Something's wrong."

"What do you mean?"

"Don't you think it's super weird? Eriko just died. Now Lisa's gone missing with no warning. It's too much of a coincidence. What if something happened to her?"

"Like the Butcher?" It was possible she was killed and her body disposed of. That would explain why no one's heard from her. Even her manager was clueless when I asked her a few days ago.

"Maybe. I don't know. I'm just a little worried. I'm going to see Maki and Yukino this weekend. Maybe they've got some news. I'll let you know how it goes later.."

I nod and watch him leave before I go back to my office. His observations did make sense. It was a bit too much of a coincidence. When I moved in, Eriko and a man named Yuya Narumi lived on the first floor; Maya Amano, Eikichi, and Lisa lived on the second, and the rest of the floors were empty. The fact that two of members of the Velvet Apartments have died and/or gone missing in the span of a week is very suspicious. Even though I wasn't close with Eriko or Lisa, the idea that someone was targeting us is very troubling.

I spend a few more minutes rolling the theory in my mind before resolving to call Maya and Yuya sometime soon. I make a note of it on my calendar, and resume my massive workload.

Regardless of how often I push my work onto Eikichi and Chihiro by extension, there's always more. An endless supply of questions to answer, and employee conflicts to resolve. It's well past 5 am before I'm caught up with the complaints department. I preferred working at night. More for the solitude than anything else. The long term third shift employees were very independent. A lot of them had supplementary classes or hobbies they liked to leave in their cube. One of the girls kept crickets.

Night time in Japan is very quiet. The Japanese are a simple people. They like their comfortable way of life. People go to work. They go home. They sleep. They do things that make them happy and repeat the cycle. I am no different. 7/11s make me happy. They have the best snacks. Especially at around 4am when they've thrown away all their expired products and restocked on new merch.

I grab a couple buns and a box of onigiri from the back, hovering over the potential beer. The Velvet Apartments had great food, but it was a hassle going home for meals. I pay for my "breakfast" and walk through the park over to Takemi's lab. It's too early for her to be awake and the park at night is a different world.

The street lamps light up the water, setting it aglow like a second sky. Nests of birds huddle in the nooks and crannies of almost every tree, and the cries of cicadas are the only sounds to be heard for miles. It is nothing like the apartments where the sounds of life can be heard every hour of the day or Iwatodai where the peace was an illusion.

After I finish my meal, I walk the rest of the distance to Takemi's clinic. When I try the door, it's suspiciously unlocked. All my senses tense up for the possibility of danger. The clinic is not empty. When I see Takemi sitting behind the desk, my alarm turns into a faint sense of surprise. The bell rings with my entry, alerting her to my presence. "You're here early."

"I didn't expect you to be up yet."

"And yet, you have no qualms about barging in here like you own the place." I did own the place. Technically.

"What are you up to?"

She waves me in, shaking her head. "Finishing up some last minute tests on your drugs. Have you made your choice?"

Of course I had. There was never a second choice. Takemi needed a body. I am that body. I roll up my sleeve and throw my arm over the counter. Her eyes drop to my arm before they flicker up at me. "No."

"You can't tell me no."

She pushes the arm off. "I _can_ and I _am_. Take your donations back. Close the clinic if you want. My answer is no."

I stare at her, utterly bewildered. She's never been like this before. I'd met her through Keisuke three years ago. The two were classmates in med school. She was top of her class in Micro chemistry. We'd easily struck a deal. I'd pay for her clinic and her research, and she'd make me a cure for death. After all this time, she's never told me no. The woman was a good doctor. A pharmaceutical genius. I could depend on no one else. "...Do you want more money?"

"Godamnnit Minato! It's not about the money! I care about you! I don't want to kill you!" She's practically yelling, and this throws me off even more. Everyone was being overly emotional: Chihiro, Eikichi, even Takemi.

I don't know what to say, so I don't say anything at all. She sighs, throwing the clipboard at me. "...This is your chart. I've run 1000 simulations in my computer since yesterday afternoon. You die in 489 of them. Your lungs literally implode."

"...That's less than half."

"Do you hear yourself? I can't do this anymore. Let me test them on Aigis or let her go."

"Takemi..." There's a slight edge of warning in my voice. She should not push me. I did not bluff. I did not make promises I wouldn't keep.

"Don't try that shit with me." There's a syringe sitting on her desk. It might be the drug, or it might be something else completely. I would take that bet.

She catches my line of sight and immediately grabs the syringe before smashing it on the floor. "No."

I watch the yellow liquid at it pools on the tile. There's anger flooding my system but I keep my emotions under control. "...Pack your things. I'm sending someone to clean you out tomorrow."

* * *

I don't go back to the office. I go home, and for the first time in years, I try to sleep. Of course, the entire attempt is futile. I roll around in bed for hours. Milk does nothing. A hot shower is equally as pointless. Nightquil only worsens my constant drowsiness.

I get out of bed, giving up completely on the idea of sleep. Kona's door is across the hall, and I walk over to knock. No answer. She should be home. I try the door. Locked. Odd. She didn't eat breakfast, and she definitely wasn't sleeping, so where was she?

I find her on the second floor, sitting in the kitchenette with Ryoji. I press my back to the wall at the foot of the stairs, and listen.

"It's okay if you can't do it, Kona. I don't blame you for what happened."

"I can do it. If I can just get a few minutes alone with him, I'm sure I can talk him into it. I was so close before he died."

"Sa-chan's not going to like it."

"Who cares if he likes it or not?! I'm still mad at him for saying all that stuff last night. We should have just done it in my room. Aniki is being so petty. It's been almost 20 years and he still hasn't gotten over the fact that you were adopted and he wasn't."

"Kona..." Ryoji's voice holds an edge of warning, and it takes every ounce of my self control not to run out there and kill him.

"What?! Tell me I'm wrong! He's hated you ever since you were adopted. It's petty. I love him to death but he needs to let it go."

"It's understandable that he's mad. It's a pretty awful feeling to be unwanted. The two of you spent 10 years in that orphanage didn't you?"

Breathe. In. Out. In. Out. Controlled. Silent.

"I wasn't adopted either, and I'm fine."

"It's different for different people. You were mom and dad's favorite. We probably don't understand how he feels."

Kona sighs, "I just... I wish the three of us could be happy together. Like before mom and dad died."

Ryoji doesn't answer her. He knows as well as I do that it would never be like that again. We weren't kids anymore. A selfish act could no longer be blamed on a child's naivete. I could hate him for what he did to us. I could blame him for what he did to Aigis.

I spend the better half of the next five days following Akira around out of spite. He'd made the right choice that first night, turning down my sister and Ryoji, but there was no promise his resilience would last. There was actually a better than good chance it wouldn't. With enough time around Kona, she could probably convince him to jump off a bridge if she wanted.

My sister joins us for meals but she is never again given the chance to be alone with him. Her work schedule is almost as chaotic as mine. It also helps that the kid spends a lot of time with Ryuji Sakamoto. The two are good for one another. Ryuji is dense, a little slow and incapable of flattery or manipulative thought. The stupid but loyal type. He was a good friend for someone as suspicious and over-analytical as Akira.

I spend varying amounts of time with the two of them. While they do teenager things, I close my eyes and pretend to sleep while I think about work. A lot of my job is planning and answering questions. The paperwork is tedious, but I give a lot of it to Eikichi and Chihiro. When Akira is asleep and Kona is at work, I sneak off back to the office and the hospital.

My days move slowly like this until I receive a visit from an old friend. "Arisato-san?" After nearly 6 days Chihiro still refused to look at me. I couldn't decided if she was being extremely proud of completely childish.

"Yes?"

"Miyamoto-san is here to see you."

I didn't need to ask her which Miyamoto. The fact that she didn't tack on some description at the end meant this was the only Miyamoto I ever wanted to see.

"Send him in."

Kaz looks completely out of place in his jogging suit. I've only ever seen him in normal street-wear twice and a formal tux at his wedding. He doesn't go for my couch which is where I sit all of my business partners. He guns straight for me, giving me barely enough time to stand up for his hug.

"Sorry for not making an appointment." His grin tells me he would never make an appointment, and he never has. Whenever he comes up to my office, I always make time for him. The guy is sometimes harder to get a a hold of than Keisuke.

I snort in answer. "Skipping out this month?"

He nods, his head bowed slightly in apology. Every month on the 26th, Kaz, Kenji, and I will go out for drinks. Kenji because he's still desperately looking for a girlfriend, Kaz because he's adamantly avoiding his wife, and me because I enjoy the company. "Yuko's pregnant again."

This makes me break out in genuine laughter and he punches me in the arm in jest. "Stop it...I swear to god this is the last one."

His statement only makes me laugh harder. "Uh-huh..." Yuko and Kaz had three boys. The first one had been an accident in the early days of their relationship. The second one the result of a quick honeymoon. They were hoping the third would be a girl and while they weren't _exactly_ disappointed, the entire house now consisted of a bunch of monkeys. Yuko called my sister often to complain about it. "And Kenji is finally going to go out with Rio."

"You're right. Hand me a beer." I chuckle at his resigned statement, and grab him a drink from my fridge. It consisted of 80% liquor. I'm not an alcoholic, but it's useful in shutting up Eikichi when he's being particularly annoying. "What if it's another boy... I can't do this anymore, man."

I shrug. I enjoyed being Uncle Minato. Kaz had good kids. Ryo was the oldest, the quiet type. Shin was a little more reckless. Got into trouble _a lot._ He was my favorite. Jun was just a baby so he didn't really have a personality to speak of. "Can't be that bad."

He takes a deep swig before collapsing into his arms on my desk. "You don't understand. You see them like twice a year. Just wait until you have kids of your own, then-"

He pauses in his sentence, like most people do when they remember my situation. "Sorry. How's she doing?"

I shake my head. It doesn't bother me. It never has. I've never needed someone to keep me focused like Keisuke, or someone to pour love into like Kenji. I definitely didn't want a family like Kaz and Yuko. "...I pissed off her doctor."

"How'd you do that?" He takes a deep swig as he ponders his own question. "Never mind. I can guess. Did you find someone else?"

I shake my head. Very few doctors would risk their license for something as commonplace as money. Takemi only took up my offer because her true passion was pharmaceutical research and she couldn't find a single sponsor until she ran into me.

"...Have you ever thought about pulling the plug?" His question hits me the wrong way. I don't know why, but it's not like him. It's more of a Kenji question.

"Why are you asking me that?"

He looks left, then right, and I can tell he's stalling while he's thinking of a lie. Kaz is a bad liar. One of the worst in the world. "I...uh..." I glare him down and he sighs. "Your sister called Yuko the other day and mentioned you were acting kind of odd lately. I thought maybe something happened... with Aigis."

Kona... Of course. The scheming little witch. My sister was full of surprises. "I'm not giving up on her."

He nods, taking another sip of his beer. "You're really strong. I think about it sometimes... It's crazy at home. Yuko and I fight a lot. When it gets bad, I wonder what it would be like if I just ran off. Yuko would probably hunt me down and kill me."

I have no doubt in my mind she would do just that.

"I won't run. It's just hard sometimes."

We sit in silence, sipping our beers. Our friendship doesn't need much in terms of words. Kenji can spend hours talking about nothing, but between me and Kaz it's mostly understanding and a sense of self. We could be together and alone at the same time.

When he gets up to leave, I join him. He heads home while I head for the hospital.

Her unit is as quiet as ever. I clean off the back of her bathroom door and put up a blue dress against the frame. "It's for a wedding. Keisuke and Sayoko are getting married. Everyone will be there."

She doesn't answer me. Not even a flinch. Of course. I don't expect her to move. Part of my monologue is for me. If I say something to her, she'll feel less like a lump of flesh I keep around. Less like a package I keep stuffed away in this closet.

There are towels in a drawer at the end of her bed. I grab one to clean her body. It does nothing to excite me. It's hard to find any person who would be turned on by a vegetable. It sounds cruel doesn't it? Thinking about her like this, but I spend too much of my time selling false hope. There is none left for me.

My eyes are closed when Takemi walks in. I know it's her by the sound of her steps. She wears nothing but platform shoes, and she pounds on the ground as if she's trying to kill something. It's easy to discern.

"What changed your mind?"

I say nothing. She wouldn't understand the feud between my siblings and I.

Takemi sighs. "No promises. I can't bring back the dead."

"She's not dead."

Takemi opens a silver briefcase on Aigis's rolling table. A mix of bottles sit in the velvet. A hallucinogen to increase brain activity. An advanced steroid to force her lungs into motion and a single tube filled with a miracle. A claim for her soul. "These drugs have never been tested. You know as well as I do that animal testing is useless and we could never get this stuff signed off to be tested on a human. Are you sure you want to go through with this?"

I nod.

The syringes are red, blue, green. "The first will be the hallucinogen. There shouldn't be much of a reaction. The second will be the steroid. It should cause her to wake up but there's no guarantee she'll remember anything or know who she is. The third is an experimental drug I wanted to have tested on amnesiac patients. If everything goes well, she should wake up a little confused, but alert." She holds up a black mixture from her lab coat and it swirls with the movement. "If it doesn't, this one will bring her back to how she is now. It should cancel the other two drugs. Are you ready?"

I nod.

She considers Aigis's meatless arms and then plunges the red needle into Aigis's neck. The monitors exhibit no reaction.

 _*beep*_

 _*beep*_

 _*beep*_

 _*beep*_

 _*beep*_

"Vitals are normal. Her brain activity is also rising. A good reaction. I'm moving onto the second one." She takes the blue one next and does the same.

Everything goes to hell.

Aigis's eyes shoot open and her body starts to convulse as her heart monitor starts to race.

 _*beep*_ _*beep*_ _*beep*_ _*beep*_ _*beep*_ _*beep*_ _*beep*_ _*beep*_ _*beep*_ _*beep*_ _*beep*_ _*beep*_ _*beep*_ _*beep*_

I grab her arms to hold her in place while Takemi jams a towel into her mouth. "Shit! SHIT! You need to pick! Now! Green or black?!"

* * *

 **Eikichi's Bond has not changed. He is an occupant of the Velvet Apartments (Rank: 7)**

 **Takemi Bond Down (Rank: 5)**

 **Kazushi Bond up (Rank: 9)**

 **[Flag] Green or Black? [No Requirements]**

 **[Freetime] Minato has some free time. What should he do with it? (Each player may input ONE response. All unnamed Guests equal one Player)**


	16. Snowing in May (2)

**Input processed.**

 **Minato's Sanity is 4. It can not be increased through free time events.**

 **Knowledge (Permanent stat): 9**

 **Strength (Permanent stat): 10**

 **Agility (Permanent stat): 3**

 **Accuracy** **(Permanent stat)** **: 8**

 **Durability (Permanent stat): 8**

 **Kernal Error. Parameter locked. Minato will not jump under any circumstances. Should Aigis die, his sanity will fall by 2.**

 **Sequence Commencing...**

* * *

Takemi is screaming in my ear and it reminds me inexplicably of Mitsuru. Why? I'm not sure. "You need to pick! Now! Green or black?!"

My arms are pre-occupied holding down Aigis by the shoulders as she violently thrashes on her bed. Green or black? What kind of question was that? I have never chosen the safe route. Not even once. It has always been all or nothing.

I grab the green syringe and plunge the liquid into Aigis's neck. She collapses onto the bed, as motionless as death.

The monitor shows one green line in a perfect walk across the screen. Everything in the room stills. Aigis' eyes are closed. She doesn't move. Everything is frozen in the presence of this singular, straight line.

"..."

Takemi shoves me out of the way. I don't feel it. Everything seems to move too quickly as she runs to her bag to pull out a small machine. It takes me almost a minute to realize what it is: a defibrillator.

Her practiced movements seem like something out of a movie. Takemi rips Aigis's shirt open, destroying the buttons. Her chest doesn't move.

"400! Clear!" Aigis' body jolts as the electricity shoots through her system. The white noise of her heart monitor continues to tear through my mind. I don't hear Takemi's voice as she tries again. And again. And again. Aigis' body remains still.

My entire body is numb to the world until Takemi picks me up by the collar of my shirt. I have a second to brace myself before she punches me clean in the face. I'm thrown backward, and with the small sting of pain, my mind finally finds body again. "Pull yourself together! She's alive..."

My senses return to me in time to understand what she's saying. Our patient's monitor shows a steady rhythm. The ventilator mimics a pair of lungs beside her head.

Aigis is alive? "..."

Takemi's eyes glance between me and the screens displaying Aigis' information. "I think the medication worked. All of her vitals are stable, and her brain activity has more than doubled... This is a miracle."

"Is she going to wake up?"

"Maybe. Just maybe."

* * *

I don't stay in the hospital. There is nothing more I can do for her. According to Takemi, she could theoretically wake up at any moment but there is no scientific calculation that would give me an exact time. Staying at her bedside wouldn't do a thing.

The two of us decide to grab a six-pack and go back to her clinic to celebrate. Yuzu has long since gone home, leaving the two of us alone in her operation room. I take a seat on the bed.

"Congratulations." She hands me a beer before opening one for herself. I don't think doctors are supposed to drink on a work night, but Takemi isn't your typical doctor.

"...Thanks." She chugs her first beer, high on her success. I baby-sip mine. We drink in silence, not really festive in our celebration.

Takemi seems to be looking down, only glancing at me through the cover of her bangs. "...So you didn't send anyone to 'clean me out' like you promised."

The look on her face is a little sentimental, and I wonder if she thinks I did it out of some semblance of love or friendship. In truth, it was because I had forgotten. After getting home, Kona, Ryoji, and Akira occupied all of my attention. By the time I remembered, I'd already changed my mind. "...I forgot to tell someone to do it."

Takemi laughs, hiccuping into her drink. "Really now? I was so sure you finally realized how much you needed me."

With enough time, I probably could have found someone else, but the amount of effort that hunt would require killed any desire for me to even bother trying. "I already knew that."

A blush creeps into her cheeks and she starts to laugh hysterically. Likely the effects of the liquor. "What a charming line. A man like you shouldn't use it. A woman might get the wrong idea."

Her statement throws a wrench in my thoughts. Was she flirting with me? I couldn't really tell, but the statement felt like a trap somehow. I didn't understand women. I'd decided long ago they were all insane. Kona's relationship with Akihiko was a mess on its own. Chihiro's obsession with me made no sense. I didn't even want to think about Yukari and Mitsuru. I let Takemi's statement hang in the silence and take another small sip of my beer. She's on our final can.

"You really could've died if you took those drugs you know. Your heart would pound so hard it would implode." Her eyes are bleary, dipping in her clear desire to pass out. "Your heart would pound so hard it would implode." I hurry to catch her before she has a chance to fall out of her chair. "You should treasure your life. Death...is sad."

I do my best to maneuver her skinny body so I can carry her up the back stairs to her apartment above the clinic. It's a little difficult due to her boots, but I manage. After close to thirty minutes later, I'm dumping her on a small bed in her single room studio. No futon. A modern woman. "Minato..."

She's asleep, or at the very least, drunk. There is almost no chance she'll remember this in the morning. "Yeah?"

"Don't...throw your life away."

Takemi would never say that to me sober. As a doctor she experienced more death than most. She understood, like I did, that death was a natural part of life. I've grown to outlive the fear of death. I've buried many people. My grandparents, my aunt and uncle, my parents, Bunkichi and Mitsuko, Akinari. While their deaths were sad, I understood it as fact. Even if I went back in time to save them, they would die again someday. It was inevitable. That was the last lesson my parents ever taught me. Death is the unavoidable destination of life. I didn't shy away from this fact, and while I did miss the people who are gone, I didn't chase after them.

In death, you are untouchable. My memory of Akinari is preserved in his book. It's not a bestseller but simply seeing it on the shelf at a bookstore will give me a warm feeling. My memories of Bunkichi and Mitsuko live on in the sapling of a persimmon tree I have growing in the yard of the apartments. I see our parents every time I look at Kona. She has an almost identical facial structure to our father. She has our mother's unbridled laugh and horrible hording habits. Death is not something beautiful and poetic or ugly and cruel. It didn't take away our loved ones so much as they left us for that destination. It is the unencumbered natural direction of time.

It is a little after 6 am when I make it home. The dinning room isn't very crowded. Akihiko is sitting with Naoto, speaking rapidly about a new case. Akira is sitting by himself, a normal sight for the most part. He didn't have many friends at the apartment. Ryuji was likely his closest friend, but he seemed on fairly good terms with the occupants of the fourth floor. The only person I talked to there was Souji. At the moment, the man in question was dead asleep at the breakfast table. His presence meant that Kona was also home, likely asleep in my room or scheming away with Ryoji.

I sit down next to Akira and we eat breakfast in silence. He isn't a bad kid. A little stupid, asks too many questions, but he meant well. Eikichi sends me messages on my pager throughout my meal. Chihiro is even worse with her calls. A million questions about an event or a delivery, but none of it is enough to make me want to drive back to the office.

"I'm going to get breakfast for Ryuji." Akira stands up without waiting for me to respond. I watch him walk over to the buffet table before I disappear into the backyard.

The Velvet Apartments sat by itself at the top of a hill. From what I know, a man by the name of Phil Emon bought both the building and the hill to keep it away from the hands of the city officials. That meant it was a very secluded location with a large lawn and yard, making it extremely easy to have secret conversations should someone want to.

Fuuka is sitting with her back against the wall of the apartment, typing away furiously on her laptop. "...Find anything?"

After my conversation with Eikichi, I'd decided to call both Maya and Yuya the next evening. Maya was fine, but Yuya failed to answer his phone during all of my attempts. It continuously skipped to a busy dial tone.

"...Yes and no. I've run a check on your friend's phone number but it isn't on. Either there's no signal where he is, or his phone is off, and its been off for the past two weeks. According to his government employee record, he hasn't been to work either. He hasn't been fired, and he didn't request any time off. Any trail of his existence just disappears at the start of April. I'm afraid he might be missing."

"..."

Fuuka's worried eyes evaluate me carefully. After eight years of living together, my relationship with Fuuka, and the rest of my floor for that matter was like that of a dysfunctional family. We didn't meld together. Not well, but we cared about one another. "Minato, what's wrong?"

I shake my head. I didn't know. Eriko was dead. Lisa was missing. Yuya made a third. Two weeks is a long time for a person to mysteriously disappear. Any number of things could've happened to him. One was a tragedy. Two was a coincidence. Three was a pattern and it painted an ugly picture. "...Have you noticed anything strange around the apartment?"

Fuuka's brow furrows in thought. After a couple minutes she shakes her head. "...No. I mean, weird things happen everyday, but that's normal, isn't it?"

She was right. Everyone who lived at the apartments was a weirdo. If nothing strange happened, that would be strange in itself. I ask her a few more questions, but her answers do little to ease my fears. I hand her a bagel I'd grabbed from the dining room before heading back into the apartment. As much as I'd like to know more, I wouldn't be able to help her with her research. My computer skills were average at best.

Plus, I didn't want to leave Akira alone for too long. Even if Kona was asleep, there was always Ryoji and he was equally as dangerous if not more so.

The dinning room is a little more full now. All the late sleepers pile in and out while Elizabeth and her siblings clean up. Both she and her younger brother, Theodore, managed our floor, but Theo kept himself scarce. We often hear him being scolded by his sisters and sometimes even Lavenza. The guy was an easy target. Too easy.

I find Akira in Ryuji's room. Ryuji rarely locks his door but I close it behind me anyway. Akira's eyes are closed in thought. A habit he picked up from me, I'm sure. I throw myself onto Ryuji's bed and close my eyes. Let him learn a thing or two from a master at work.

It's surprising how much people are willing to say and do when they think the people next to them are unawares. It's almost like they're riding on the thrill of being caught. An adrenaline rush.

"But what if something goes wrong?! What if they forget something and the surgery equipment goes crazy and chops off my leg so I bleed to death?! What'll happen to me?" Even if I was asleep, Ryuji's yelling would've woken me up. The guy is enough to be his own blowhorn.

Akira snickers, and it's a little hard not to smile. Ever since the night we cornered him in my room, the boy seemed to have gained a newfound confidence. He was less jumpy, made faster decisions. He even smiled more often.

"Maybe you'll turn into a ghost or something. Then you can sneak into the girls bathroom." And he could make jokes too. I once thought he lacked any sense of humor. Color me pleasantly surprised.

"I'm serious! I've never even had a girlfriend, and I won't get the chance to kiss someone or have… you know." I don't need to open my eyes to know what's probably happening. _Teenagers_. Were they all like this? Had _I_ been like this? High school was so long ago. I've tried to clear any recollection of it from my mind. I have vague memories of Junpei being somewhat similar to Ryuji. They _did_ have a few similarities. Not in the face of anything like that, but their general atmosphere a bit.

"Use a rubber glove." I couldn't help myself. It was too easy to freak them out.

"Uh…what? Dude. Did I Imagine that?" Ryuji's idiotic response is almost enough to make me grin, but I manage to keep it down for the sake of my act.

My back is turned to them, but I can feel their eyes trained on me. It's not an uncomfortable feeling. People stare at me often enough. Even without the grotesque scar on my face, I'm a bit of an oddball.

They don't make any moves to test me. I expected the odd stick or maybe a jab in my back, but they don't do either. Their conversation isn't exactly interesting. Typical "boy talk". Akira seems to be enjoying it quite a bit, especially after falling on the subject of a certain girl.

"I don't like her!" Ryuji's indignation tells everyone in the room that he definitely likes this girl. Her name is Ann. She was quite pretty, completely out of Ryuji's league. I've only seen her once, when she moved in. She had the appearance of a foreigner, with her blond hair and blue eyes. Maybe a distant cousin of Bebe. Is that racist?

"Didn't you say she was living with her new boyfriend? Who is he?" Akira's question is a little light-hearted, as if he doesn't expect her to like Ryuji either, even if she were single.

"Yeah. They've been together for a month-ish? Since the start of summer vacation, but I don't know who he is. She wouldn't tell me." I've heard this conversation before. Akira has no memory of this but in the original timeline, Ryuji and Ann had an argument at the foot of the stairs when she first started dating her new beau. Fuuka had been in their common room at the time. She informed me Akira and Ryuji had secretly followed Ann to meet this new boyfriend and never came back. All three of them were found dead in an alley in Ebisu.

I turn to look at them. If they go on this trip, would they be killed again? Was their killer the same person targeting the members of the Velvet Apartments? If I sent them on this trip knowing they're likely to be killed, that would make me an accomplice, wouldn't it? "Ask Navi."

Ryuji and Akira turn to look at me. Ryuji confused, while Akira's expression shows that he's more than a little suspicious. "How long have you been listening?"

He really doesn't learn. After all this time around me, he should know better. Clearly, I'd heard everything. I shrug.

"Whose Navi?" Ryuji pipes up.

"Some kind of information broker in 509." Akira responds offhand. To be exact, her name was Futaba Sakura. She was a kid. 14 or 15. Moved in around six to seven months ago and no one has seen her leave her room since. She probably used the bathroom at some point but there has yet to be any witnesses. Lavenza takes meals up to her room. There's a doggy entrance at the bottom of her door for any packages she might need to receive. For all her secrecy though, she left a huge trail on the internet. I had Fuuka look into Futaba's movements one morning when the kid called to threaten me.

No one threatens me.

"Do we need to pay him?" Ryuji questions. A reasonable question, though I doubt Futaba needs money. Her father pays her rent and all of her expenses. I've seen Lavenza doing the math in their office once.

"You can swap information. I don't really recommend it." Akira's face is pulled into a frown, worry lines etched into his face.

"Why not?" Ryuji doesn't wait for anyone to answer before running over to his phone. Futaba answers on the second ring. The landlines in this place were loud. There was no volume control. Even without a speaker, everyone in the room could easily hear her.

She goes through her motions of pretending to be someone else before Ryuji puts in his request. I tune out the conversation for the most part until I hear Kona's name.

Futaba's fake persona leaks through the phone. "If you can tell me why she started working at a host club I can tell you everything you want to know. "

A smirk grows on my face without my authorization. _Akihiko._ He was the only person at the apartments desperate enough to be wiling to trade with Futaba for something as ridiculous as that. Akihiko was clever enough but by god that man was _dumb_.

I'm lost in my own thoughts when Ryuji throws himself at me, screaming "Help me!"

I'm almost about to kick him in the face when he catches my expression and pulls himself back. "Sir..."

I sigh. This was a good chance. If I helped him, it would throw Akihiko in Kona's path. If he knew the truth he would confront her. She would need to deal with him before getting the chance to deal with Akira. At the most, it would slow her down and keep her off my back, at the least, it would annoy the ever living hell out of her. Just desserts for her meddling.

The only downside was that she would blame me almost immediately. Ryoji wouldn't rat her out and no one else knew the truth. My only bet was Akira. She would suspect him, if only for a second. A few days after she tells him our secret, and all of a sudden Akihiko confronts her with knowledge he shouldn't have? It was suspicious enough to at least make her consider Akira a suspect before running straight for me.

I turn to my would-be scapegoat and give him the only words he should need. "The baby."

His eyes grow wide and I can see the gears turning behind them. He should be able to follow the trail of logic. Three years ago, Kona learned Akihiko was going to propose. She went for a body check and learned her time traveling escapades took more than just her unborn child. She'd lost a vital part of her reproductive system. She would never again be able to conceive. It destroyed her in ways no one could be able to predict. Not even me. She cried for weeks. The guilt still eats away at her when she least expects it.

Her recklessness afterwards more than doubled. Picking fights with complete strangers. Chasing down petty thievery on the street. Even her job at the host club was just a way for her to get information on local happenings and punish people she thought were bad. A little vigilante with no regard for her own safety. Her logic was this: She's already lost the most important thing in the world to her. What more could she lose?

Sometimes, I honestly wonder if she's suicidal.

"She felt guilty for losing their baby! And she couldn't have another one so, oh shi-" Akira is screaming his answer into the phone. It wasn't the complete truth but it would be good enough. The perfect answer. As he spits it out, an entire veil of shock lights up his face. It takes all of my self-control not to laugh. He was an honest kid. Or at least, he tried to be. A good kid.

Futaba sounds equally as surprised as Akira looks. "What?! She was pregnant?! Did she have an abortion or a miscarriage?! Source, I need a source. You could be lying, and I can't back it without a reliable name."

The girl was starting to get annoying. This farce needed to end. Now. I had other things to do than spend my entire day stuck playing games with a teenager. I grab the phone from Akira's hand and press it to my ear. "Me. Minato Arisato. I'm his source."

There is dead silence on the other end of the line. Futaba knows who I am. She knows what I would do to her if she chose to play games now. We've already had that conversation. I have no need to make that promise again.

When she finally speaks, her voice is almost normal. She was clearly trying to sound normal and failing. I can hear the squeak of her real voice underneath the changer. "I-Well. Okay. Well, uh... What do you want to know then?"

I hand the phone back to Ryuji so he can get the information he needs. They would be busting in on the location then. Neither of the boys could drive which meant I would need to take them to their next location.

Kona is asleep in my room when I go downstairs. I grab her room keys from my desk. Her room is much brighter than mine, but fundamentally structured the same way. There's no bed in here. A giant harp takes up most of her space and her large desk takes up the rest. Numerous shelves are nailed to her wall, filled to the brim with random knickknacks. I grab my phone charger from her table and leave.

Akira and Ryuji are waiting for me outside with an address. I need to read it twice before my mind cements it as the truth. Impossible. This couldn't be a coincidence. The address I'm driving to already belongs to someone I know.

Maya Amano.

Akira, Ryuji, and Ann probably died here in the first timeline a little less than a month before Eriko dies while coming back to the apartment. Lisa goes missing a week after. Yuya has gone missing a few weeks before that, probably around the same time Akira and his friends would have died. That was six deaths. All linked up in the span of less than 6 weeks. There's too much information to sort through. Too many variables. All of it is too much of a coincidence.

A new theory forms in my mind. What if, that day, the killer's original target hadn't been Akira and his friends. What if Akira had simply gotten in his way while he was trying to kill someone else?

I send my theory to Ekichiki and then immediately call Maya while I drive like my life depends on it. _"The number you are trying to reach is out of service."_ For god's sake, why did people have phones anymore? It's not like they used them in a life or death emergency or anything.

I drop the boys off and hurry back to the office. It's a 10-minute drive from her apartment. Chihiro looks like she wants to say something when I walk past her but I rush by to Eikchi whose pacing in my office. I lock the door behind me.

"You saw my message?"

"YES! Oh my god! YES! Are you sure about Yuya? I saw Yukino and Maki last weekend and they were fine. I thought I was imagining things."

I shake my head. No. All the signs pointed to a killer. Someone was targeting us. "Do you know who Akira Kurusu, Ryuji Sakomoto, and Ann Takamaki are?"

"No. Well, wait. No. I do. Akira is...Wait. Why are you asking that? What are you trying to say?"

Akira. Clearly that boy had more than a few secrets of his own. "I'm using him as bait to test my theory."

Eikichi's eyes widen in shock. "...What have you done?"

"...I think this theoretical killer will go after him today. Probably tonight." I check the clock hovering next to my door. It was 2pm. In the original timeline, Akira and his friends died at night. There was no guarantee it would happen like that again, but I found that history liked to repeat itself in small ways.

"And you just left him?! Oh my god! Yukino and Jun are going to kill me! Maya and Tatsuya too. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Urgh, this is awful."

"I can't reach Maya." The implication hangs in the air. Perhaps she was in trouble. Maybe she was already a victim.

Eikichi continues his freak out, calling everyone he knows, from Yukino to Kaido, her security guard. He informs us she left for work this morning and hasn't come back yet. When Eikichi has downed an entire bottle of saki and completely exhausted his list of people, he collapses onto my couch like a broken doll. His eyes are red, as if he's struggling not to cry. "...Minato...What do we-"

I hold up my hand to stop him. The best case scenario would be if Maya was at work and unable to be reached. If we were lucky, she would get back to us and we would only need to save one group of people. If she were dead, there would be no helping her anyway. Now was not the time to worry. Now was the time for action. We needed a plan.

* * *

 **Takemi's bond up: (Rank 6)**

 **Bonus unlocked: Due to your actions in Akira's route, you are aware Maya Amano is still alive. She will not need to be saved.**

 **[Flag] Save Akira and his friends. [Requirements** **: A plan] Any player may put forth ONE plan. However, if Minato's stats do not meet the requirements for your plan, it will not be executed.** **The plans of several players may be combined. However, if none of the plans are viable, Akira will die. This death will have no effect on any other routes you may play.**

 **Boosts: Eikichi Mishina will follow you. Fuuka Rank 10.**

 **Ekichi's Stats: Please keep in mind that Eikichi is somewhat drunk. (Dazed)**

 **Knowledge:** **5 (Average)**

 **Strength: 6 (Slightly above average. His large figure belies a gentle soul)**

 **Agility** **: 7 (Fast reflexes. Can't dodge bullets, but can possibly run on pace with a man on a bike)**

 **Durability** **: 9 (Will live through an earthquake unless crushed by a building)**

 **[Freetime] Minato has some free time. What should he do with it? (Each player may input ONE response. All unnamed Guests equal one Player)**


	17. Snowing in May (3)

**Input processed.**

 **Kernal Error. Takemi's Bond: (Rank 6)**

 **Sequence Commencing...**

* * *

I print out a large map of Maya's neighborhood around the apartment and spread it out for Eikichi to see.

"What are you going to do?" His hands are trembling as he tries to get himself under control. The empty bottle of saki tells me otherwise. I sit him in my chair to contain all of his crazy in one place.

"I don't know." I point to the alley behind Maya's building. It curves around the complex, acting as a small parking station for the vehicles on the other side of the street. Plenty of shadowed areas where a killer could theoretically hide while waiting for his prey. "In the last timeline, Akira and his friends die in an alleyway in Ebisu. This is probably where."

Eikichi nods. He wasn't a time traveler, but Tatsuya Suou claims he was. The man once lived on the second floor. He'd apparently moved out long before I arrived, leaving a mountain of questions behind for his friends and loved ones. One morning, without any warning, he'd packed up his things, wrote each of his friends a letter about what he was, and left, never to be seen again. It tore all of them apart. Eikichi was one of the few who believed him, and by extension, me. "Did you save him?"

"No. The continuum shifted when his death was broadcast on the news. Someone else must've seen it and done it to save him or one of his friends." My theory after seeing Eikichi's reaction was that Akira either Tatsuya's child or his brother or something like that. If Tatsuya Suou was a time traveler then there was no question about Akira's ability to jump as well even if the kid had since forgotten. This meant the one who changed the continuum was probably Tatsuya, and should Akira die, he would likely do it again only to have these events repeat.

"In that timeline, do you know who killed him?" Eikichi's question bothers me because my answer is no. That was the root of all this wasn't it? I don't know who killed him. The continuum shifted before there was any police investigation into the matter. "Do you think he'll show up today?"

"Chances are good." The lie slips through easily. In truth, I had no idea. There was a very possible chance the killer wouldn't show up at all. If the killer had been after Maya, how had the killer known where her apartment was? If he wasn't, then how did he know Akira and his friends would be in Ebisu? Why were they killed? What was the Butcher's purpose? What was his goal? There were too many questions. I needed to get all my thought organized. "I dropped off Akira and Ryuji close to an hour ago. We can get back to them easily but we can't get into the building without Maya pulling a few strings."

"But she's not home." Eikichi's strong suit was not planning. He was definitely the punch first and ask questions later kind of guy.

"No. But that won't be a problem." I dial Fuuka's number on my phone. It rings twice before she answers.

"Hello?"

"I need you to deliver an anonymous tip to the police in the Ebisu area through their firewall."

She is silent for a few moments, stunned into her silence. I've never liked small talk, but my direct speech pattern has caused a response like this before and it was incredibly inefficient during times of crisis like this.

"I'm at work" Her voice is a little pleading, as if she's trying to get me to leave her alone without her needing to say the words. Always the non-confrontational type.

I don't grant her this service. "You've done worse. I need you to report that there has been sightings of a suspicious man outside of Ebisu apartments. Say that you think you might have seen blood and suspect he is armed."

She falls silent again, this time in surprise. You can tell the difference because her voice hitches differently. "...Minato. What on earth is happening? Are you in danger?"

I take a few seconds to contemplate my answer. Fuuka is an incredibly smart woman. She would spot my lie immediately if I even bothered to try.

"Not me. A couple of the kids on the fifth floor."

I can hear her sigh loudly on the other end of the line. "I'm working on a big project right now. I can probably get a recorded message through the phone lines to the local department by four O'clock. Will that work?"

A smile lights my face without my consent. Her bleeding heart strikes again. "...I'll bring you dinner tonight."

"Just do what you do best. I believe in you." She hangs up without another word, and I immediately call Akihiko next. He answers immediately.

"...What do you want?" Akihiko and I have never been close. Even in high school our age and social ineptitude prevented us from becoming true friends. We were comrades-in-arms. Dormmates. Casual acquaintances, but the word friend was left for someone more like Mamoru who resembled Akihiko in almost every way. That all changed when he started dating Kona. After realizing he had the potential to become my bother-in-law we put in more effort to develop a bond. This backfired completely when they broke up, and the resulting backlash reset our relationship to square one.

"You're friends with Ryuji and Akihiko. They're in danger."

His voice is wary, clearly suspicious, "Where did you hear that from?"

"Have the police made any headway on the Butcher case?"

Anger filters in. The man was incredibly easy to read. He had a good handle on his emotions for the most part, but he wasn't very good at hiding them. "That's confidential de-"

"We're being targeted. Eiriko is dead. Yuya has been missing for months. Lisa a few weeks, and I can't reach Maya. You're a cop. Fill in the blanks."

Akihiko says nothing for a long time and I wonder if he might have hung up on me. I check the screen several times to make sure the line is still connected. I'm checking for the third time when I hear his voice. "Where are they?"

"Ebisu apartments. They're there looking for Ann Takamaki from the fifth floor."

"I'll send Naoto a message and maybe she can get someone from the department up there. It's not my jurisdiction but I'll look into Lisa and Yuya."

I keep a grin down. He was the definition of a hero. A prince charming. He just needed someone to point him in the right direction. "You should get a call from Navi soon. She has some good news for you."

Indignation colors his tone. "How did you know about-"

I hang up on him. He would understand when Futaba called him later. She was bound to do it, and then she would collect on whatever it was that he promised her. I could only wonder what that might've been.

Eikichi is sobering up by the time I finish my phone calls. The flush is leaving his cheeks and he can stand without shaking or stumbling. "What now?"

"Fuuka needs until five O'clock to put in the tip. Akihiko will probably get his coworker to alert the department to send someone over. With the police raiding the place, we can sneak in as concerned friends. We should stake the place. The killer might already be there."

I ignore Chihiro on my way out but Eikichi stops to give her instructions about what to do for the rest of the day's events. Her eyes dart to me periodically, a question always lining the edge of her lips. Eikichi doesn't give her room to breathe, and when he's done, bolts straight for me, dragging me to the elevator faster than god himself.

"...Thanks."

He grins, the first time all day. "You're welcome."

We pile into my car, the short ride filled to the brim with apprehension. Eikichi calls Maya relentlessly but she doesn't answer. Her phone continuously goes straight to voice mail. The building is peaceful when we roll up. It's around 3:30, around the time when the students who aren't in clubs would be leaving school. I take in all their faces and features.

A parent walking with her child.

A business man checking his watch as he walks to the nearest convenience store.

A woman in an expensive dress watching the streets with the trained eye of someone who did it often.

Every person is suspicious. Anyone could be the killer, an accomplice, or an unwitting victim. Eikichi puts both of our worries into a single question. "How do we know who the person we're looking for is?"

I don't know how to answer him. There was no way to tell. There was no evidence our killer would show up here besides the intuition of a time traveler. Events do not play out because it's a specific date. It's always an event. One event triggers the next. The Fall didn't happen because it was January 31st. It happened because Strega had planned for it. Akira didn't die in the beginning of April because the killer happened to be here that day. He died because Akira came here to this apartment building. Or was it because he left with Ann and Ryuji? Who was the intended victim? What was the trigger?

I drive around the block several times, catching the attention of a guard for the apartment. I inform him that I can't park in the area and I'm waiting for someone to come out.

"Who are you waiting for? I can call up to their apartment if you'd like."

"Maya Amano." I turn to Eikichi for the room number. "23."

The guard nods once. "Popular lady today. I called up there and it seems like her son is visiting."

This catches my attention and I can see Eikichi practically jumping in the seat next to me. We knew for a fact that Maya didn't have children. This could only mean one thing. Someone had sneaked into her room apartment and was masquerading as her son. Why? And better yet, who? Had the killer reached her first and slaughtered her in her own apartment or was he lying in wait for her to return to commit the crime? "Do you mind giving her unit another ring? She might be taking a nap."

"I don't think she's home yet sir. I haven't seen her come through the lobby and Kaido asked me to keep a lookout for her because several people have come asking for her."

"Did any of them leave their names?" A good killer wouldn't leave a name, at least not a real one, but even pseudonyms had a meaning. Some sort of hint to the user.

"I'm afraid not. Is there anything else I can help you with? He eyes his empty post warily. He clearly didn't like to be away from his seat, even if he didn't think there was a threat in the building.

I pull out my keys from my pocket. "I've got the keys to her unit. Can you call Kaido and let him know Mishina and Arisato are here to see Maya. He should okay us in. "

The guard takes a good look at the keys in my hand but giving me a swift nod. "Sure. Wait here for a second."

He comes back a few minutes later with a large white card and I stick it on Eikichi's side of the windshield. "Kaido said it's fine. The guest parking is on the second floor." I pull up to the ramp on the side of the building. A security guard checks the sign before letting me pass. "You have the key to Maya's apartment?"

"I lied." Eikichi rolls his eyes. The fact that he didn't ruin the charade while we were in the car was a testament to the amount of time we've been together.

The garage is about half full. Gray walls surround me on all sides. There's no window in sight. A claustrophobic death trap. The only exits was the opening below us, a door that likely lead to the residential elevators, and a ramp that lead to the next floor. The last one was blocked off by a metal gate.

I try the door, but it's locked. "What now?"

"We wait."

It takes close to 30 minutes before we see someone exiting, and I run to try and catch the door before it closes. Eikichi gets there first, throwing his whole body at the door. It slams on his hand.

Eikichi's face scrunches up in pain, hastily throwing the door again. The woman who had come out rushes back to him, her face clearly surprised. "Are you alright?! Why on earth would you do something like that?"

He stares at her absently, his mind a blank. I rush to fill the silence. "My friend is clumsy. This sort of thing happens to him all the time."

The woman's face is scrunched up in suspicion. She's young. Only a bit older than me if not my age. Her dark blue hair is tied back with a red ribbon. It looks out of place against the rest of her attire. She looks like a cross between a doctor and a teacher. Maybe a school nurse. "His hand isn't broken... Should I call an ambulance?"

"No!" Eikichi's abrupt response startles her and the woman pulls back a bit before Eikichi rushes to reassure her. "I'll be fine."

"We're heading to a friend's apartment. We'll have her put some ice on it."

The woman nods, a small smile lighting her face. "Alright. Well, take care you two."

She waves as she leaves. Her car is parked only two spaces over from mine. I turn to Eikichi. "You okay?"

He nods. My foot still holds the door open. We quickly slip through onto a long, hallway. Blush carpet muffles our steps. A camera sits in the top right corner at the end of the hall. Clearly we couldn't mill around here too long.

Luckily enough, we're on the second floor. Exactly where we needed to be. I see Maya's door almost directly to my right. 23.

 _*Knock*_ _*Knock*_

Silence. No one answers. No sign at all that anyone is in the unit let alone a mythical son. I turn the knob and it clicks. The door swings inward.

Eikichi is about to rush forward but I stop him. "Someone's been here."

I open the door slowly, checking every nook and cranny for traps or any sign of the intruder. The only sign of movement is a curtain blowing in the window from her open balcony door. Perhaps that was where the intruder entered. Did he leave through the front door? The lock is clean and unblemished. The culprit probably didn't pick it.

I send Eikichi off in a random direction after telling him to be careful and begin checking the place myself. There's a stack of dirty dishes sitting in the sink. A wipe my finger over a plate and the food hasn't quite crusted on yet. The faucet isn't dripping water. She was here recently.

Eikichi returns to the main room a few minutes later shaking his head. "No one's here."

"I know. But Maya was probably here this morning. We're better off finding Akira first." I dial his number on a whim. No one else has picked up tonight but maybe I'd get lucky. The phone rings twice before he picks up. "Hello?"

"Where are you?"

I can hear him sigh, clearly from relief. "Still at the apartment. We're leaving now."

The image of their body bags flashes through my mind. They'd died in the alley. They couldn't leave. Not now. It was safer to meet up with them and just drive them out. "No! Come down to the second floor. We'll meet you here."

Eikichi writes a note for Maya should she come home but the two of us leave immediately. Akira and his friends show up a few minutes later looking worn out. Ann is on Akira's back and I make the introductions quickly while Eikichi carries her himself. The five of us practically run to my car to make our escape. The guard from before is still there. He doesn't look twice when we leave.

Ryuji is prattling in the backseat. Ann still remains unconscious, likely because she's been drugged. I keep my eye on both mirrors for anyone who might be following us, looking at us strangely. Anything at all. I almost veer and hit a lamppost.

My chest feels like it's been set on fire. The world grows dark, framed in brilliant white outlines as everything else fades away, leaving only this colorless world and the pain as my heart stops beating. I feel like I'm choking. When I can no longer stand it, the pain subsides and time starts to move again. I slam on the brakes of my car and everyone jolts forward. Luckily there is no one behind me.

Akira, Ann, and Ryuji are all here. Eikichi stares at me with confusion. "What happened?!"

I ignore him, honing in on Akira. Surely, he had felt it too. "Did you feel that?"

His face is white, a streak of sweat streaming down his forehead. His mouth is open as he gasps for air. No verbal response. Only a nod.

I put the car back in gear and drop Eikichi off first. He makes me promise to explain everything later.

Our next stop is Takemi's clinic. I catch them just as they're about to close. Yuzu rushes me in. Takemi kicks us out for her examination. The 20 minute wait is obnoxious. Ryuji asks too many questions I don't want to answer. I refer to my usual role of pretending to sleep to make him shut up so he funnels his questions at Akira instead.

The boy in question has regained some color in his face and Yuzu hands him some of snacks from her private stash before she leaves. "You look like you're about to pass out. Have Takemi take a look at you after she's done with your girlfriend."

The devil of a doctor appears a few minutes later, kicking me with her foot. "Your friend's fine. Mostly. She overdosed a bit on chloroform but it will clear from her system. Get her lots of liquids when she wakes up. Lay off solid foods for the next two days. Soups and jells are fine."

"Thanks."

"Always. About the other night..."

"Nothing happened. I'll see you this weekend." I go into her examination room to carry the girl back to my car. Ryuji's mouth is open, forming a small shocked O. Akira is slightly better, his smile only bordering a smirk.

The moment we're in the car the two of them burst out with questions.

"Are the two of you dating?"

"Have you done IT?"

"Did something happen the other night?"

"How does a vag-" I throw everything within arm's reach at them in an attempt to shut them up. God, I hate teenagers.

* * *

When we make it home, Ryuji carries Ann up to her room. Lavenza runs the elevator and opens the door for him. I drag Akira to the side. The two of us needed to talk.

"Who is your father?"

He stares at me, his face blank. "Why do you ask?"

I slap him upside the head, knocking his glasses into my outstretched hand. "Who is your father?"

He takes his glasses back, scowling at me in annoyance. "Jun Kurosu."

Jun...I've heard that name before. In fact, Eikichi mentioned it often. The two of them were friends. What did this mean? If Tatsuya was Akira's father then how did Jun play into all this? And what of Maya? She's never mentioned having a child. Even when she lived at the apartment, I've never seen her with any man. At least, not in the romantic sense.

"Do you know the name Maya Amano?"

Akira freezes and when he turns to look at me, there's genuine fear in his eyes. "Do you know her? Did she call you? I didn't mean to break into her house. It was the only door open. I swear, we didn't do anything."

His blabbering reveals everything I need to know. Akira had been the one in Maya's house. Not the intruder. Where was Maya then? Was her phone broken? Soimply out of battery? I try to dial her number again but it jumps straight to her voicemail. "Maya used to live here. She's a friend. Don't worry about it."

He nods and I let him go back to bed.

The hallway is dark, and I'm left alone. Had I saved everyone? Ann, Ryuji, and Akira were alive. Maya was still missing, but she'd been fine this morning. We'd likely just missed one another. Everything was perfect and yet, an unease crept up my spine. We didn't find the Butcher. In saving Akira, the trap I'd laid wasn't used. The Butcher never showed. But someone had jumped: The Butcher? Or even the bigger anomaly by the name of Tatsuya Suou? Where did he go? Why did he leave? What was his real connection with Akira?

The questions continue to tumble through my mind, occupying all of my attention until I feel a heavy blow to the back of my head.

* * *

KERNEL ERROR: CONNECTION LOST


End file.
